Bubble Gum Under the Seat
by P.A.W.07
Summary: Barricade is left alone on earth with nothing, but a "wounded" Frenzy and no hope for a future, but then he notices something strange about Sam Witwicky. Unable to get close enough to see what, he recruits the help of Miles. 2007 movieverse
1. Rules of the Universe

Bubble Gum Under the Seat Summary: Barricade is left alone on earth with nothing but a wounded Frenzy and no hope for a future, but then he notices something strange about Sam Witwicky as he spies on him. Unable to get close enough he recruit the help of Miles. 2007 movieverse

Rating: Teen … just in case. People need to get a sense of humor because everyone's too easily offended now days.

Disclaimer: Oh how I wish I was, but alas … I am not.

Chapter 1: Rules of the Universe

XXX

There are five great facts to the universe: one, the Earth was totally round; two, McDonalds is actually an evil aliens idea to take over the world by making all the people of the world fat and lazy so when they decided to invade no one would be thin enough to join the military and fight; three: there is a God mostly by fact that the whole universe was just created as his idea as a complex and ironic joke; four, that woman were an entirely different species whose only purpose in existing was to confuse _him_; and five, Sam Witwicky was his best pal since before he could remember and that they'd always be pals.

And those were all things that Miles Lancaster, aka Sam Witwicky's best pal since forever, knew were facts. Yet, now he wasn't so sure. He was so confused at the time being that he wasn't even sure about Oprah being a mobster queen anymore! But, despite all those great facts, Miles KNEW that Sam was his best pal and as such told him everything … the real question now was if the Earth was really round because Sam no longer told him everything.

Miles's skateboard hummed softly on the concrete as he made his way to the parking lot… he was still slightly pissed about Sam abandoning him by the lake the other day. Sadly for him, Trent decided that someone had to suffer for his girlfriend's un-girlfriend-like attitude and quote, 'You're the only dork in the five mile radius' … Yay, him and his bruised body. Then there was the small detail of Sam _not_ calling him in the middle of the night to tell him how it went with Miss-Sexy-Thang that he gladly abandoned Miles for. Okay, he understood and accepted being abandoned for that hottie. He would have done the same thing. What he didn't understand, of course, was where Sam had magically disappeared afterward. He just vanished off this side of the planet, calling one last time to say his Camaro was evil. Miles merely thought he was pissed about the car breaking down or something, so when he called back later that day to ask if Sam fixed his "Satan Camaro" there was no answer. There wasn't even a grumbling threat from Sam's father about the bodily harm that would soon be done to him tomorrow morning for calling so later … there was nothing. In fact, when the teen had skateboarded over the current occupancy of the Witwicky's, the front door was wide open and no one was home … unless you call the guy in the black suit standing guard a person.

So it went on like that for a few days. Miles didn't return to the house to see if his pal had reappeared, because the dudes in black had noticed him and he really didn't want to find out what they'd do to him if they caught him. Probably make him wear rubber pants … oh, the horror. So Miles was left stranded … no pal … no info … no free car rides from the yellow piece of junk Sam had just bought, nothing! Of course that was one week ago … now he had his pal whom had shown up at school today. Yet, Sam was unusually distant, not ignoring, but like he had a lot on his mind.

Miles smiled as he thought of his pal. School was out for the day and now they had time to talk about whatever was on Sam's mind; plus, he had a ride home today. Confusion quickly spread over the teen's face as he entered the parking lot … where was the Camaro? It was hardly a car that someone could miss easily being it was so, he wasn't going to call it ugly because those racing stripes were pretty cool so he's settle with … unique.

Sam sighed heavily as the pain tightened in his chest … damn. He was so tired. That's all he ever felt nowadays. Between running from a giant death dealer, nearly falling to his doom twice, keeping his new girlfriend _entertained_, and making sure the Autobots were all blending in was exhausting. All he wanted to do today was drive Mikaela home and crash.

Well, that was the plan anyways.

"Hey dude? Where's your car? You're dad chuck it, because it didn't match with the lawn or something?"

Sam turned around to look at his brother in chaos, Miles. A smile couldn't help but slip onto his lips as his dorky pal stumbled off his skateboard with a loud thud. Miles: the guy who claimed to be a skateboarder extraordinaire, but couldn't keep on the board more than five minutes.

"What do you mean where's my car?" asked Sam stupidly as he leaned on Bumblebee's hood.

Miles shook his head like a dog and stumbled to his feet. "Knew you're dad ditched it. Man I was really hoping for a ride home today."

Sam gave him another questioned look as he leaned a little more on Bumblebee, still not realizing what Miles was rambling about.

Miles shook off the strange look his pal was giving him and turned his attention to the car Sam was leaning on. "Dude, look at these major pimping wheels. Who's rich daddy do you think bought it for them?" Miles quickly walked over to his pal and ran an envious hand over the hood. "Niceness."

The Witwicky tried to stifle of laugh … oh yah. Miles didn't know that this was the same car that it was last week. Only now he knew it was a transforming robot from the stars, but he was rather sure Miles wouldn't take that answer very well at the moment, so he settled with a simple answer. "What are you talking about? This is the same car it was last week. Got a new paint job … and new legs," whispered Sam under his breath, but Miles didn't notice this as he ripped open the door and flopped down in the passenger seat.

Miles had planned on snapping at Sam … he was fully blown on doing it too for leaving him hanging in the air with no message of where he had disappeared to, where he got those weird marks on his hands, and why his house was being guarded by the Men In Black, but those worries faded away as Miles ran his fingers over the upholstery in an almost loving manner. He couldn't help but hear a small rev of the engine. He looked at the hood and Sam who was still leaning on the hood, eyes big. The car wasn't on … hm, must have been another car he heard.

Once Miles had returned to his fingerly exploration of Bumblebee's interior, Sam gave the car a look and hissed under his breath. "Bee … careful. I'm not sure Miles is quite ready for whole 'my cars a giant robot from outer space' thing." Sam could just imagine Bumblebee rolling his optics. "I'll tell Miles later, promise … he just has a few rituals he does went entering a new car. You know things like changing all the set music stations, digging under the seats, counting how many cup holders there are, readjusting the review mirror, and fingering though the cubbyhole. You know stuff like that. Last time he was in you he was too excited about the party to do so … so just grin and bear it?"

A small growl came from the car as Miles started to big under the seats, but he made no more objections. Sam tried not to laugh, but a small chock of humor couldn't help but escape him as someone spoke up behind him.

"Poor, poor Bee. It seems Miles is going the whole ten yards with his new car ritual." Sam couldn't help but smile as he stared at the lips that uttered those words.

Miles looked up and couldn't help but roll his eyes as he looked upward at the scene before him, so the rumors were true. Mikaela and Sam were going out … or at the present moment sucking each other's faces off. Miles watched for a moment more and couldn't help but feel a slight ting of depression set in his gut … was he ever going to get a girl friend. _Once you get a hot ride like this … maybe, but still unlikely due to the fact that you're a dork extraordinaire._ _Wait … erase that thought; you'll be a virgin till the day you die boy … you could get a plastic girlfriend though, but even then you might not get any action. She might deflate at the very sight of you._

The pang of depression suddenly slapped him; even his own mind was against him. The teenager sighed and looked away from the two lovers … he was almost done with his ritual. He just needed to do one last thing for luck … Miles glance back up to make sure neither Sam nor Mikaela were watching. He was rather sure both would object, but no worries there the sucking had just jumped to level three face sucking as they leaned against the hood. Slowly Miles gave one last suck on the gum in his mouth and pulled it out. He stared at the pink blob and then whisper, "A little gum underneath the seat and luck will follow in my steed."

Miles could have sworn that the car shuddered when he plopped it under the seat.

XXX

Barricade knew many things… not the rules of the universe per say, except that only the strong survive, but still knew many things. For example: he knew the exact rotation of his tires as he stormed down the interstate. He also knew other things like the fact that Megatron and the others had … _failed_. Oh Primus, how he knew and he wished he didn't know. Now, Barricade was no coward, but he was no idiot either. He could tell that the battle was over the moment Bonecrusher had had his brain circuits crushed in by the Autobot leader. Okay, no problem. Out with the old plan of conquering the universe with human technology gone wrong and in with the new … problem was both plans called for Megatron whom wasn't here anymore. So new plan was thrown out was well. The Ford found his tires rotating faster and forcing his unit into a faster momentum … forget the plan. First things first, he needed to find his partner, as irritating as he was; he still had a sharp circuit board to him. Now how many miles is it to Colorado?

The sound of grating metal echoed over what remained of the empty halls of the Hoover Dam as the bot forced his huge form through the tiny human door. The metal finally gave way and the decepticon tumbled inward. Barricade quickly regained his balance … it was un-decepticon like to trip. Barricades' sensors quickly danced over the room as he search for his partner in crime … the transformer couldn't help it as a sigh escaped him. He really was the last decepticon on earth now. The transformer found himself quickly picking up the small form of Frenzy … the body swayed lazily in his hand.

"Fool." Hissed the larger decepticon. He ran a finger over the chest of his motionless partner … he was really all alone now with no way of getting off this infuriating rock! Primus, why couldn't he have been a flying transformer! The decepticon shook his head … no point in complaining now. Barricade looked at the being in his hand once more and found himself looking for the rest of Frenzy's head. He was going to give the little chattering pain a proper burial. He wouldn't let the filthy humans take the little bots body the way they took the rest of the decepticons' sparkless bodies. Barricade stopped in his searching … why should he care? Frenzy had always been a pain in his hood with his constant chattering and poking at his gears!

The decepticon saw a gleam out of the side of his optic. It was the rest of Frenzy's head. Barricade quickly picked it up and cradled it in his other hand as if it were about to break into a thousand pieces like glass. Did it really matter why he was doing this? Maybe it was just a forewarning of the loneliness that he was soon to suffer as the last Decepticon on an earth filled with nothing but Autobots and fleshies. The least he could do was bury Frenzy as a farewell to the last Decepticon he'd probably see for centuries since Starscream abandoned him. In truth, he'd rather melt him down the insane little robot in the customary Cybertronian burial right, but they weren't on Cybertron anymore now were they? He'd bury his companion in the customary human ritual, even though the thought disgusted him. It was better then letting the humans have him. The only question was where? He'd decide later, because there was a sudden shriek of footsteps coming his way. It wasn't that he was afraid of humans or anything, but he knew that being seen wasn't good. He's managed to stay off the radar for the past few days already … what was a few more centuries?

XXX

Miles was not the king of patience. True, he could sit through a 24-hour series marathon of Scrubs and somehow not get off the couch the entire time, but for the most part he was not the most patient of teenagers. At the present moment he could take no more of Sam and Mikaela's face sucking and started to fiddle with the radio. He could swear it was possessed with the way it was whirling around to different stations. In the end he finally just slumped back into the seat and stared at the little disco ball handing on the rearview mirror. He might have found bee-tch comical in any other setting, but the resentment he had been feeling towards Sam had suddenly returned.

Sam felt his inside tremble like electricity was jumping in his veins. Oh man … he LOVED having a girlfriend. It felt like a thousand little jolts of electrically were buzzing around in his belly and … Sam suddenly felt the electricity in his veins turn painful. He didn't even have time to wince in pain as he felt that energy explode into his hands making the burns on his hands sting as if they had been cut open with a dull blade. A muffled yelp escaped the girlfriend he was kissing and she pushed back her body convulsing against Bee's hood. Mikaela's scream was silent compared to the ripping noise of Bumblebee's engine under the hood as the car gave a violent shudder, which was then followed by another scream from Miles in the car as his body was violently slammed back against the seat.

… And suddenly the pulse was gone as quickly as it had came.

Sam felt his body tremble and the next thing he knew he had rolled off the transformer's hood and fallen to the ground. He flinched as his hands met the pile of glass that laid all over the parking lot. The boy stared at the glass that littered the pavement for a few moments as he took panicked and wheezing breaths as if he was exhausted. One more deep breath and the teenager finally lifted his heavy head to look around. Through dazed vision Sam was able to make out fellow students running from the scene while others ran to it scream things … probably enraged do to the fact that it seemed every car window in the block radius was gone.

"What just happened?" Came a groan from Mikaela as she slowly sat up on top of Bee's hood, her body obviously trembling.

The Witwicky slowly pulled himself up with his hands, but he nearly fell into the glass as he pressed weight onto the glass beneath him. His breath trembled as he quickly pulled his body into a sitting position to look at his hands to see why they were aching so badly. The glass didn't get in his hands that deeply did it? What he saw threw his heart into a sudden panic … the small marks he received from the Allspark were sizzling as if he had burned them all over again. Sam wasn't sure what to do, but he couldn't let anyone see! No! He wasn't sure why, but he knew this would just cause a panic … it wasn't anything important. Nothing important at all! He just had to hide it; hide it how? Bee or Mikaela were sure to notice! There was no way he could hide this! Unless … and then he slammed his hands into the glass that covered the ground. A pain filled whimper escaped the being but he pressed a little harder into the glass … he didn't allow his hands to be lifted until he felt the electricity in his arms disperse. He swallowed nervously as he brought his hands out of the bloodied glass. The little jumps of electricity had disappeared and were quickly replaced with blood. The teenage watched with relief as little droplets of red fell into the glass below … what had just happened? Sam swallowed nervously and looked around trying to see if anyone had noticed before he looked back at his hands. There was blood pooling from the dozens of cuts on his palms, but at least the glow was gone. It was gone… it was nothing.

Sam of course didn't get to dwell on what his self-mutilation for more then a moment as on scream floated through the static in his ears. He automatically threw his gaze to Mikaela, but she was fine, but a horror stricken look did cover her face as she stared at the interior of the Autobot. Miles was thrashing in the car … screaming! A panicked turning of gears came from the car and the door was suddenly flung open. The dirty-blonde stumbled out trying to pat the flames out that were on his higher shoulder and ready to eat at his long hair.

"I'M ON FIRE! HELP! HELP!" The human thrashed around trying to not burn himself. Probably suddenly remembering the stop-drop-and-roll he learned as a child Miles did so. To bad there was glass everywhere and the teenager found himself trying not to cut up his face in the glass and not get burned at he same time as the fire nipped at his hair –

SPLASH!

A gasp escaped Miles as he stared up at the form of Trent whom was gasping for air and glaring down at him. The bottle of water in his hand now empty. Wait! Rewind! He was just SAVED by Trent? Miles lips tried to open to say thank you but all that came out was, "Why?"

Trent straightened up and tried not to get a revolted look on his face as he stared at the blood dripping down the other's face. "For the ladies of course … can't help but fall for a hero."

Miles twitched slightly as he pulled himself out of the glass only to be shoved back into down by a female body that latched itself around his adversary's neck. "Oh Trent!" Cooed the cheerleader not even noticing the boy she'd push back into the glass, "You were so brave … like a fireman or something." She sloped a kiss on him and then looked over his shoulder. "To bad about your truck though."

The grin on Trent's face quickly disappeared and he ran over to his truck howling like a monkey. Miles sighed … okay, being used as a pawn by a jock: nothing new there but the whole jolt of electricity running though Sam's new car that was just … WAIT! SAM! Sam was on the hood and metal is a conductor!

"Sam!" croaked the teenager as he stumbled to his feet. He saw Sam leaning against his camaro just staring at his bloodied hands in a state of shock. Mikaela was sitting on the hood still … she seemed out of it. "Sam." Repeated Miles as he stumbled over to his pal grabbing the bandana out of his pants pocket and using it to cover his pals bleeding hands. He couldn't help but twitch as he touched his pal as he was slightly shocked. "Man, what the hell was that?"

Sam looked up at his pal and whimpered. "Don't know. Maybe it was an electrical charge from an underground wire or something." Sam whimpered … or maybe it was him. " … but lets get out of here Trent's coming our way. Probably going to blame us because my car is the only vehicle that not missing its windows."

…

Bee wanted to talk, to question, hell to do anything then pretend to be a REAL car! But Sam had practically threatened his carbonator if he revealed himself to his pal or family before Sam thought they were ready … and at the present moment Miles was in the backseat nursing a nasty cut to the head. Speaking of wounds … there was blood dripping down his steering wheel. Should he take them to a human medical facility or maybe he should take him to Ratchet. The car quickly turned his wheels to the nearest Hospital only to have Sam yank on the wheels and hiss, "No. We have to drop Miles off … then se can go talk to our 'pals'."

The transformer silently complied. He didn't want Sam to hurt his hands more then they were already with his struggling against his steering wheel. He'd take Sam's pal home … speaking of which, there was his house now. Bumblebee couldn't help but give a rev of satisfaction. The sooner they got rid of Miles the sooner they could get to the outlook and talk to the others. Bumblebee wasn't sure what had happened but he knew it was bad and Sam came first so why was he putting up with this pain who put gum under his seat?

The transformer stopped his revving when he felt Sam slam on his breaks as they stopped in front of Miles house. "Listen Bee … I -

"Come inside guys … I'll get some bandages."

Both Sam and Mikaela gave a small jump when they say Miles staring in through the drivers window … when had he jumped out of the car?

"Sure … just let Sam park the car and we'll be right in." stated Mikaela nervously as she watched Sam's blood drip down the steering wheel. They'd talk to the Autobots after they got a few bandages.

Miles nodded and watched as his pal slowly got out of the car. Miles wasn't sure but he had a feeling that Sam knew what had happened at he school, that he was hiding something and not just that, Sam seemed to be hiding a lot … too much. Maybe he could get his buddy to tell him tonight what happened those days he disappeared or maybe where he got the new Satan camaro … anything.

Sam was halfway out of the car when a blaring horn made all the teens jump. Miles stared across the street where a Peterbilt was parked along with a black Topkick. Last time Miles check none of the neighbors drove a semi to work. Before the dirty-blonde could even go 'what?' both Sam and Mikaela were back in the yellow Satan car.

"Hey!" snapped Miles. "Where are you going?"

Sam's brown eyes widened for a moment as he stared at his pal and then he looked back over at the red and blue semi. He swallowed nervously before blubbering. "Nowhere Miles … I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"What! Wait!" Miles jerked on Sam's arm as he sat back in the car. "What's going on Sam? I'm your bud, your pal, your man till the end. … Why won't you tell me anything? What's going on? What happened in the parking lot? Who are the dudes in the semi and truck? Sam tell me SOMETHING!"

Sam swallowed and jerked his arm away from his old pal. It hurt him to lie to his best buddy … but it was to soon for the truth. "Miles … nothing's going on. Talk to you tomorrow." And with that the door slammed and the yellow Camaro pulled out of the driveway leaving Miles standing there with a look of pure desperation on his face as he watched the Semi and Topkick quickly follow after.

The skateboarder swallowed and pulled his hands into a fist. What happened to his BRO! His pal till the end! Sam was hiding something from him and he was going to find out what if it was the last thing he did!

XXX

Paw07: Yah! Time for paw's ramblings! First off, I was trying to make Barricade seem kind of evil, but I think I failed miserably. So sorry if he didn't seem decepticon enough. Also, if you guys like it so far tell me? If you think it's a bad idea please let me know as well. I don't want to be wasting my time nor anyone else's if this thing is a total eyesore.

Also … yah, the writing has a slight irritating flow to it, but I want to make it feel like a suffer dude writing so that you guys could get into Miles's character a little better. Don't worry, not every scene will be so out there.


	2. Tis a Zombie

Chapter 2: Tis a Zombie 

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Barricade found it hard to believe that something could be so soft and so hard at the same time, but the earth that he was digging at beneath his fingers was pulling it off rather well. His planet was made entirely of metal yet this planet was made of so many things: earth, water, rock, and snow. This planet had a life to it that Cybertron could never hope to obtain … to bad he couldn't properly enjoy it. He might have been able to deal with solitude on this mud ball if he didn't know that he was stuck on his rock forever, or at least until the Autobots ripped him to shreds, but what was the fun in enjoying this strange planet, and torturing its fleshy inhabits, if there was no one to laugh manically with you?

The soft wet earth oozed between the meck's fingers as he dug deeper into it. He had chosen a nice lookout over the city that him and the evil little 'bot had spent the first few days spying on. It was rather secluded and there was only one road leading up there … lets just say it was going to take forever for Barricade to peal off the mud once it dried. With a loud pop of his metallic hands the 'bot noticed that he had hit some type of rock bed. He was getting no farther into the earth unless he decided to start shooting, but that seemed a rather dumb idea at the time being. He knew that the Autobots were looking for him … it was best to keep a low profile until either Starscream contacted him or he was able to get off this rock. Both seemed hopeless to say the least.

The bot sighed in a rather human way … it would have to do. There was a sound of scratching metal as his chest plate popped open revealing the remains of his partner. The 'bots silver remains seemed so transparent as he stared at them … he already missed Frenzy. A chorus of cybertonaon words escaped the vocal processor of the Saleen as he slowly placed the limp form in the four-foot deep hole. He had heard the humans speak while burring their deactivated so he would too.

The words suddenly caught in Barricade's vocal processors and he found himself unable to speak another word. It wasn't that there was nothing more to say … it was just that he couldn't say anything. It was as if something was clogging his air filters or at least he thought so until a choked sob escaped him. Barricade suddenly found his form shaking as he pressed the dirt over the silver form allowing the last graces of the setting sun to gleam off Frenzy's shining metal before he was forgotten forever. It was then that the Decepticon found himself wishing that he could shed tears like the humans do, if only for this moment and then never again. He'd like to cry for just this moment because he was alone …

XXX

Miles felt his heart jump as he ran towards the garage … he was going to chase Sam down and demand an answer or forget their friendship. Friends were people that looked out for each other and trusted each other … Sam didn't trust him enough to tell the truth. What could possibly be so horrible that he couldn't tell his best bud? The teenager huffed as he ran to the garage door pulling the door open … who was he kidding? He could never-not-forgive Sam, but he could be angry for a while. It was probably just something stupid anyway … he was probably just selling drugs.

The teenager stood in the threshold of the dark garage, his eyes wide from the sudden thought, and then he dashed into the darkness forgetting to turn on the lights. Several curses and a lone paint can rolled out into the street as Miles crawled out of the darkness as if he had just been mauled by a bear. "That wasn't one of the wisest things I've ever done," whispered the boy to himself as he lifted himself to his feet.

"Oh great, now I'm taking to myself." Grumbled the teen as he turned the lights on and ran over to his ride, which was hiding in the corner. He panted in the dim light as he stared at it. Yah, she'd seen a lot but could get him where he needed to go … despite the fact that it had had a run in with that parked UPS truck and not to mention that head on collision with that golf cart. She was beaten and bruised but she still had some life in her … barely.

The engine roared to life and then Miles felt the wind soar through his hair as he forced the goggles over his eyes. He was going to save his best bud, once he beat him to death with a rubber chicken that is. With that thought in mind Miles jumped the sidewalk and his moped vroomed as he headed after his prey. He'd have to take shortcuts across lawns and fields to catch up with those guys … luckily a huge blue Peterbilt with red flames was something a person couldn't easily miss.

XXX

The wind was an amazing thing … it seemed alive almost, yet this meant little to Barricade as he watched the grass around his partner's grave dance. He'd stopped his earlier shaking and whimpering by giving himself a good punch. Yes, it was dented, but an easy fix nonetheless. The giant robot stirred slightly from his kneeling position over Frenzy's grave … what now? Where does he go from here?

The mech's optics traced over the landscape … he could probably stay here a bit longer. Of course he had said the same thing a human hour ago as well. What else was he suppose to do? He had nowhere to go, no mission, no purpose. What use is a machine if it has no purpose … to rust? The huge bot felt his heavy metal clanged shoulders heave foreword as he leaned his head in a depressed manner. He had no idea how he had picked up so many of these irritating human qualities, but they were annoying because now he was doing a lot of them subconsciously. If he didn't start some havoc soon he's start acting autobot-ish and that was a fate worse then death in Barricade's optics.

Another human like sigh escaped the 'bot as he leaned forward and put his huge hand over the soft dirt where Frenzy was buried. "I miss you already dear companion. It was an honor to travel the stars with you." The decepticon slowly pulled his hand out of the soft dirt and he stared at the grime that was now stuck between his platings … he hated this backwash mud ball of a planet.

A sudden roar of engines pulled the huge metallic being from his mourning … it was the sound of a semi engine. A cringe ran down the saleen's back as he remembered the imagery of Optimus crushing Bonecrusher's metallic skull in. He'd hate to admit it but it was probably a blessing the Frenzy wasn't here to see how jumpy and frightful his companion had become as of late. For the past week every roar of a semi engine sent his circuits into a slight panic. For that matter, he'd been unable to fall into recharge in fear that the huge autobot leader would crush his metallic skull in as well. It wasn't that he was a coward or anything; it was the fact that there was no one to call for backup and nobody to watch his back while he recharged. He was defenseless … lets face it. Barricade knew it. He was meant for reconnaissance and not for direct battle alone … he was smaller then the usual Transformer. Slag, he got his metal aft kicked by Bumblebee! He had his bumper handed to him by a scout! A bloody scout! Lets just say paranoia was starting to become his one and only ally and oh, how he hated it.

Barricade's shoulders slowly relaxed. Why would Optimus be up here anyway? There was no purpose for the autobot leader to be in this general vicinity so he'd just as well buckle down for the night up here … he hadn't had a decent recharge in a week. Recharging next to Frenzy's grave would offer some companionship at least. The huge 'bot quickly sunk down onto his back, staring at the darkening sky. Slowly, Barricade allowed his systems to slowly turn off one by one until his whole frame went still … he still kept his optics on though.

He was watching the sky … staring. He was hoping that perhaps there'd be a steam of light that foretold of a new transformer landing on the planet. Maybe it would be Starscream or Shockwave, but knowing his luck it would be another Autobot … one that was bigger then him probably too. The transformer huffed. So he was insecure about his height since the whole having his bumper handed to him by a scout. By Primus, if it was the last thing he did he'd beat the little autobot into the ground and maybe regain some honor … even if Optimus crushed his skull in three seconds afterwards.

The decepticon sighed once again; he had to really stop doing that. That was the first sign of human depression, which was fine and dandy, but depression for a decepticon was BAD! Decepticons didn't know how to handle depression since they had no one for mental support … unless you had a partner that is and they were force to listen to you, but for most part decepticons dealt with depression badly. Barricade himself had never seen a decepticon in depression mostly because they were dead in a short while … they usually did themselves in. Suicide, it was something no transformer would ever dwell on or even think of doing, but when depressed most of the circuits had shut themselves off leaving nothing but the depression. It was a well kept secret among the decepticons … never were the autobots to know what a little depression could do to a decepticon. With a growl the saleen forced his optics to offline. He really didn't need to dwell on that right now. If he was indeed falling into a deep depression he'd just as well take one of his blades and do himself in, because once the autobots found him in that helpless state of mind he'd be as good as dead anyway.

There was another roar of an engine and Barricade's optics turned back online. He couldn't help but growl. Slag'en humans and their bloody Semis! How was he supposed to get any recharge with those engines waking him up every few minutes? The decepticon growled and rolled over so he could get a glance at the road below … nothing there. Suddenly, the roar of the engine came from behind. Barricade barley had time to roll over the edge of the outlook before the headlights landed on the spot where he had just been laying a moment ago.

Every circuit seemed to freeze as Barricade watched none other then the autobot commander pull up and park on the area he had just been resting. True, Optimus Prime was in his alt mode but Barricade would never forget that paint job … it looked like flames from the pit consuming all in its wake. The decepticon leaned a little more into the shadows as two more autobots followed in their leaders wake … why was he hiding? Was he scared?

_Yes._ Said a voice deep inside his CPU. _And that is the only reason you're not a deactivated pile of scrap at the present moment like the rest of the decepticons._

Barricade ground his hands into the soft dirt. He was NO coward … to prove it he'd stay and watch. The autobots were bound to know a way off this mud ball at the very least.

…

Questions are questions and let it be known there are a hell of a lot of questions in the universe. Some of these questions can help a person figure out what their life is about or they can either be the questions that make the situation a thousand times more difficult. In the case of Sam Witwicky … he had the later of the two. And it was that realization that made Sam's flesh feel cold, cold and dim like the world had just slapped him in the face and went '_Ha … life isn't easy boy now suffer.'_ Miles reaction to his new 'pals' wasn't helping matters either. Sam had no idea what he should be doing, how he should be reacting to everything that had happened this evening. His mind was being overwhelmed by questions and the teenager was sure he was drowning in all those questions. They were lapping at his flesh trying to pull him under into the darkness so that he would be nothing … nothing but panic.

A sudden jerk of tires slammed Sam into Bumblebee's steering wheel. A hiss of pain escaped his lips as his hands took a large amount of the force. A new stream of blood pooled down the steering wheel covering the already dried blood. "Damn it 'Bee! You could have warned me you were stopping."

A small rev of the engine expressed the camaro's distaste in being swore at. Sam felt his heart give a jerk. He was so caught up in his own worries that he was taking it out on Bumblebee. "Um … sorry 'Bee. I'm just touchy about the whole parking lot blowing up in our faces."

The radio crackled a little before a soft almost-bubbly voice came over the speakers. "Do not worry Sam … Optimus will have a good conclusion on what has happened as soon as Ratchet gets here."

Sam watched as the other two transformers pulled up around the yellow camaro he was presently hiding in so they could wait for the medic. The teenager sat there a few minutes feeling the seat beneath him shudder slightly. He would have started to tap his fingers in boredom, but his hands were not ready for such abuse. So he went with the next best thing … annoy the giant robot. "Sooooooooooo … if Ratchet doesn't show up in say twenty minutes … can I go home?"

A huff escaped the black Topkick. "Cool your heels kid … no one's going nowhere till we know what's going on. Plus, we should have Ratchet look at those hands."

Sam nodded his head and tried not to whimper in defeat. At least no one could say he hadn't tried to save himself.

"Speaking of Ratchet." Added Ironhide gruffly, "Where is the scalpel wielding terror?" 'Bee merely gave a tired snicker and if Optimus had been in his robotic form he would have been glaring.

XXX

A long sigh escaped the medic as he barely crawled down the highway. Presently, at this very moment in time, he was trapped behind a moped. A bloody ugly one at that that looked like it had been run over by a mail truck and then fished out of the lake … of course Ratchet couldn't judge the human's taste in vehicular transportation at the moment, because he couldn't take his optics off the fact that the human juvenile was NOT wearing any protective cranial gear!

Finally, the last car passed and now the road leading up to the lookout was completely empty, except the human that was. Ratchet's huge vehicle form swiftly started to pass the annoying little vehicle that was blocking the road, yet he did not pass the said disturbance instead he talked to him … Ratchet was a medic and it was his life to stave off death, be it with a scalpel or an idle threat as you passed someone. "Excuse me young juvenile?"

Miles' concentration on the road in front of him was suddenly broken as a voice floated over the air slamming itself into his skull. The teenager's dirty-blond hair whipped in the wind as he stared at the huge Search and Rescue Hummer. A gasp of panic shattered through the human as he swerved and nearly veered into the ditch … what had shocked the human wasn't the fact that the vehicle was driving on the wrong side of the road nor the question why a lone Search and Rescue vehicle was up here, what shocked him was that there was no one in the drivers seat!

Ratchet felt his spark jump as his sensors captured the human's heightened distress followed by a nearly fatal accident. It didn't take him long to figure out what had frightened the jumpy creature though … easy fix, but a stupid mistake. What could he say? Holograms were not his thing.

Once Miles was able to stop himself from crashing and going splat on the highway like a bug, the teenager picked up the pace on his moped and pulled the goggles upon his head as he looked back into the cab. He whimpered slightly as a muscular man with black hair and piercing green eyes glared back at him. Miles blinked and then rubbed his eye with one of his fists nearly losing control again. He could have sworn that there had been nobody in the seat a minute ago.

"Young juvenile." Growled the man as Miles continued to stare as if perplexed. "I must request that you pull over."

Miles stared a moment more as if his mind was trying to decipher what the man had said … click, click, CLICK. "What! WHY? You're not a Dude in Blue, plus there's somewhere I need to be going … _plus, you're probably a serial killer who just wants to pull me over so you can brutally murder me with a scalpel and take my hands_." Whispered the boy to himself as he pulled the goggles back over his eyes and willed his moped to go faster. The Rescue Vehicle easily caught up.

"Please do not ignore me." Ratchet growled … why did he care again? Oh yah? He was a medic … didn't mean he had to be nice about it though. "No, I am not a employee of these _Boy's In Blue_," The medic did a quick web search to see exactly what one of these 'Boys in Blue' were but his web search held contradicting evidence of what it meant … _slag human slang, _ "but I am more then certain that the local law enforcement in this general vicinity would want to pull you over as well since you are not wearing a cranial protection unit."

Miles blinked, his mind racing to decipher the code_. Click, click, click. … … … System failure! Warning, warning, warning! Eject, eject, brain overload! Mission failed. MISSION FAILED_! "Wha …?"

Ratchet's gears ground in frustration. Was that really that hard of a question? Now he knew why the human wasn't wearing a cranial protection unit. He had no brains to protect. "A helmet."

Miles glared at the man with an as-if look daring him too call the police over such a little thing. The hologram driver sighed when he got the message and slowly reached for the radio. Ratchet might have laughed at the look on Miles' face if the teen had not nearly crash into him at the very same moment. "Watch the road!"

Once Miles regained his balance he glared at the man and hissed, "Okay, okay! Fine I'll put one on you helmet Nazi."

Ratchet quickly did a World Wide Web search for the word Nazi not knowing how to react to the word. Apparently Nazi, or Nazism, referred to the totalitarian ideology and practices of the Nazi Party under a man named Adolf Hitler who was know for trying to genocide the entire Jewish population and take over most of Europe. … The farther Ratchet got into the web the more he became enraged by a Nazi's place in the planet's history. In all truth, if the decepticons were around to meet this Adolf Hitler, they probably would have overthrown Megatron and given the squsihy his job. It was also apparent that calling someone a "Nazi", or suggesting ties to Nazism, was considered a grave insult.

"I am not a Nazi." Hissed Ratchet roaring his engine in distaste. "I'm a medic and you're lucky I am or I'd run you off the road myslef. Now put on your helmet."

"I said I would! Now quit your bitchin' and let me look for it." Miles leaned backwards slightly on his moped and started rummaging through the sidebag. Ratchet let out a frustrated yelp as the moped nearly rammed him once again.

"I said pull over! OVER! You're going to gravely injure yourself and me if you try putting a helmet on while driving!"

Miles huffed and clicked the helmet on wishing that he had thown it at the driver instead. "I didn't gravely injure myself. See! Now if you excuse me I have some spywork to uphold." The teen then revved the engine to his moped and Ratchet couldn't help but grin as he heard the kid start humming the tune to Mission Impossible. Human's might have been mad, stupid, and slightly rude at times but they never ceased to be entertaining. … Especially the stupid ones. Primus, this was bringing back flashbacks of Skywarp.

Miles watched as the huge Rescue Vehicle disappeared on a side road that was heading upward toward an outlook. The teenager stopped his moped for a moment and pulled his goggles back onto his helmet. He just sat there for a little bit on the road staring up … Why would someone head up there? It wasn't a medical emergency. The gears in Miles head started to click and click and click.

The teenager sighed and then pulled his goggles back on. Maybe the guy was going to a secret air field to meet with his drug dealing partners … Miles' earlier words toward Sam hit him hard like granite. It all made sense. Sam wasn't taking drugs … he was selling them! That's how he got the new car, how he was able to attract his new ho … um Mikaela, and that's who the Topkick and Semi were! The semi was used to transport drugs while the Topkick and Sam sold them on the street, but that wasn't worst thing. Ambulance-boy was the ringleader! Yes, he had to be. He had been trying to distract Miles with the whole helmet thing, trying to make him forget his mission.

"Don't worry Sam. I'll save you sorry hide … but then I'm locking your ass in drug rehab so help me!" The moped then stormed up the hill. Sadly, the boy lost control and soon found himself rushing upward … but not the road upward. Oh no. He was taking the scenic route up the bloody road less mountain! "KYAHHHHHHHHHHH!"

XXX (yah, we're back) XXX

Sam found himself laying in the grass a few meters away from Bee and the others. He flet sick. All he wanted to do was go home and go to bed. He'd had more then enough excitement to last him a lifetime with the whole Allspark sanerio. Speaking of which … the teenager looked at his hands. The grass was wet so some of the dryed blood had been removed revealing the pale flesh of his hands. The marks, that so resembled the indentions on the Allspark, were no longer the dull … they were more like scars, new scar at that. A rumble of a distant engine caused the human to jump slightly and throw his hands into his coat pocket

Barricade couldn't help but raise an optic as he watched the human hide his hands. What was he hiding?

Slowly, the decepticon willed his form to crawl a little nearer so he could get a scan without altering any to the other transformers. His optics peered over the tall dancing grass as he tried to position himself at a good angle that would both keep him hidden and allow him to scan the human as quickly as possible. His optics started to flash as he started to scan the human's form from the feet up … ugh, the human body was truly a disgusting thing.

A sudden crash from behind made the decepticon jump and he couldn't help but yelp silently as he cut his scan halfway through and ducked back into the grasses … something had hit into him. _Please be an earth squirrel. Please be an earth squirrel! _

Slowly the Saleen turned his optics to see what had hit him.

"Damn it!" Came a quite curse from Miles as he rubbed his head. He had just run into something big and metal! The teenager sighed … Okay, maybe it was lucky that the medical-nosy-maybe-drug-dealer-helmet-crazed-Nazi-guy came his way or he might be way under the earth … like six feet. Miles groaned as he pulled himself back to his feet. He had just crashed his moped a few meters back slamming his head down hard on the rocks and now he had just hit his helmeted head on something huge and metal! A wave of vertigo hit the teenager as he stumbled to his feet. He looked around lazily … it was dark out and he had no idea where he was without the assistance of his moped's headlights; he was practically blind … luckily for him there was a collection of headlights at the top a of a outlook.

With a gasp the teenager collapsed into the soft ground a few meters below an outlook not even noticing the rigidly still Barricade a few feet to his left. "Land." He whimpered stupidly as he crawled a little nearer to the lights. He was about to pop over the hill when he heard a very familiar voice echo over the clearing.

"What's the situation?"

It was the medic from earlier. It was hard to forget a voice like that with the weird way that dude talked. Miles slowly dragged himself up a little nearer so he could peek at the drug lord. His heart took a nosedive as he watched Sam crawl out of his the yellow camaro. Miles swallowed as he expected pimp-like dudes to start to exit the other vehicles … but no the contraire. The vehicles came out of themselves. The metal danced in a chaotic motion as all the transformers started to transform … save the yellow camaro who merely shivered as if cold.

Okay … now was officially the time to panic and where the bloody hell was his Twilight Zone music! Miles whimpered as he looked at his new robot over lords in the clearing. He had to get out of here! The teenager quickly got to his feet and was ready to run back down the hill when his head slammed into the same stupid metal thing!

"God Dammit!" He cursed as he grabbed his head and kicked the offending object only to stub his toe as well. The small growl from above his head told him that was not a thing he should have done … slowly, Miles looked upwards.

Barricade and the human just stared at each other … neither daring to move or make a sound in fear of being caught. The decepticon couldn't help but notice that the squishy seemed to be in a slight panic as his respiration picked up and became queasy, yet his eyes would not dart from Barricade's optics. The human's face was a mixture of fear and absolute awe. The decepticon would have congratulated the human on not running and scream at the very sight of him like all the humans before, but he liked being alive at the moment so he'd rather not chance it… in truth he should crush the human juvenile then and there for kicking him, but instead he decided to use this 'sign language' that he had found on the World Wide Web. The bot pointed at the human, put a single digit over his vocal processor, shook his head, and then as silently as possible slammed a fist into his palm. The human squeaked, eyes big, and then sank back into the earth looking back at the scene in front of him pretending he didn't even notice that there was a huge robot spy next to him. Barricade decided then and there that humans were smarter then he originally thought, but don't get him wrong. They all still deserved to be squished.

Miles tried to still himself as he stared back at the scene before him … god it was _ugly_. The human swallowed once more as he tried to calm his breathing as he sank a little lower into that tall wet grass to make double sure he wouldn't get noticed by another HORRIBLE robot. The one beside him was bad enough threatening to go all terminator on him and shit … he'd hate to know what four would do to him and they could at least use words!

Optimus slowly and deliberately threw his head up high as he spaced out his weight on the earth once he was done transforming … the ground was wet and the last thing he needed to do was sink. The commander then gazed about his soldiers in an accepting manner as if counting them as they transformed as well … save for one. The three mechs, once all had shifted their weight, stood around 'Bee patently waiting for him to transform. Of course Ironhide wasn't as patient as his counterparts.

"What' your problem boy? Sam's outta yah … not ganna' make me shoot you to get you to come out are you?"

'Bee shuddered and the grin on Ironhide's face quickly disappeared. "What's wrong kid?"

The grinding of turning gears sounded sick and rusted as the youngest of the transformers transformed, yet he did not stand tall and proud like the other mechs around him. His huge form was knelt close to the ground with one knee under him and the other leg perched upright being used as a rest for one of his arms while the other limb was tightened over his chassis; the look of a wounded samurai. Tiny little sparks danced from behind parts in his chest armor. The small bot tried to rise himself to his feet, but Ironhide put a steady hand on his shoulder plate keeping him still.

"Stay still kid." Ironhide growled as Ratchet fell to one of his knees beside the young mech pulling out an energy scalpel as he did so. The yellow autobot flinched as the blade picked into one of his chest plates, but Ironhide kept him still. "Keep still kid. Ratchet may be a scalpel wielding madbot but he knows what he's doing… plus, if you flinch he might cut a wrong wire and then where would you be?"

Ratchet merely threw a glare not in the mood to put up with the older mechs games. He had to fix whatever was wrong now! If he had know 'Bee was injured he would have at least put on his emergency lights and hightailed it up here … maybe running over one moped-er in the processes.

Sam stood there … shocked. Bumblebee had been injured this entire time and he hadn't even notice. How could he have not noticed! He was 'Bee's bud. His earthly bound pal and he hadn't noticed. Here he was to worried thinking about himself and his problems. For mercy's sake, when was the guilt going to end! First it was Miles and now it was 'Bee. A stifled whimper couldn't help but escape Sam when he noticed that he was digging his nails into his palms … slowly he pulled his fingers away and stared at his hands. These filthy things had done this hadn't they? Before Sam could think about his actions he had started to run towards the injured transformer … what would he say? Would he ask for forgiveness? Insisted on being crushed for hurting his new pal? Yet none of those question got any farther then thoughts when Optimus put one large hand down making a barrier and stopping the human.

"Hold it right there Sam Witwicky. It's to dangerous for you to be near Bumblebee in this condition." The huge 'bot then turned his attention back to the small yellow autobot who was cringing at every swiping move of Ratchet's tools. "How's the situation Ratchet."

A metallic whimper or two escaped the camaro before the medic answered, not taking his optics off his work. "I don't mind being a field medic Optimus, but perhaps we should consider constructing a base in the near future with a large medical facility … it's hard enough reconnecting circuits while not getting dirt in them." A loud yelp escaped the yellow transformer, which followed a clang of metal as 'Bee slammed against his support.

"Dang it Ratchet! Give the kid some painkillers!" Growled Ironhide as Bumblebee squirmed against him.

The glow of the laser scalpel dulled for a moment and Bumblebee stopped his withering. "My apologies _nurse_, but I think saving Bumblebee's circuitry from further damage is a little more important then waiting for the painkillers to kick in." The medic glared at the shocked weapons specialist for a moment more before continuing in his work.

"What got up your tailpipe?" Growled Ironhide, tightening his grip on the squirming 'Bee.

"A human on a moped." Growled Ratchet in return as he pulled out another rather painful looking tool.

Optimus merely shook his head at the twos bickering as he picked up the whimpering human and headed away from the surgery. Those two always became grumpy when Bumblebee was injured … it was a rule of the universe sadly.

"Optimus?" Whimpered Sam as he pulled his head into his knees too ashamed to look in the direction of the metallic whimpers. "This is all my fault … I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

The autobot leader tilted his head in question. It always amazing him how easily humans blamed themselves for things that were beyond their control. A noble thing in its own way, but a useless waste of energy none the less. The huge leader ran a lone finger down the shivering human's back trying to calm his shaking and sobbing. "Sam Witwicky do not blame yourself for things beyond your control … Bumblebee is a strong soldier. He will be fine."

…

The dancing of Ratchet tools suddenly slowed and Bumblebee was allowed one last wince before the huge medic stood up and directed his attention to his commander. Ironhide slowly helped the younger 'bot beside him stand a well. "Optimus I have corrected the injuries done to Bumblebee's form … mostly. From what I can tell it was some type of energy overload."

The Autobot leader stopped comforting Sam as he rose to his feet walking over to the others, leaving Sam a few meters away. The click of cyrbertronion filled the outlook as Optimus began to speak … Sam was greatly distressed and he didn't need the human becoming more distressed then he was. From what he understood, stress and humans were a concoction best not mixed … if it could be helped.

"_Bumblebee are you able to speak?" _The commander couldn't help but noticed the lost look Sam was giving him as they began to speak in clicks and whistles.

"_Yes …"_ stated the soldier unevenly as he slowly stood up straight without the support of Ironhide, earning himself a glare from Ratchet.

"_Report then soldier. What has led to these injures?"_

The smaller transformer swayed on his feet slightly until Ironhide put a supporting hand on his shoulder plate. "_I am uncertain Optimus what had caused this … all I know is that it occurred at Sam's school parking lot. I didn't see the attacker Optimus …I'm not even sure there was one. I was easily incapacitated afterwards so I don't know why I wasn't later ambushed if there was indeed an attacker."_

A worry looked filtered through all the older mechs. _"Don't worry Bumblebee. Ratchet." _The green bot nodded his head. _"Take Bumblebee to a secure location to finish his repairs and see if you can identify the type of energy that overloaded his circuits. I will be little surprised if it's decepticons."_

"Yes sir." Added Ratchet slowly walking over to Bumblebee so he could take the youngling from Ironhide.

The leader nodded and then turned his attention back to Sam. He sighed. "Ironhide."

"Yes Optimus?" Added the weapons specialist wearily as he watched Bumblebee shake against Ratchets form. "Can Will Lennox spare you?"

The huge 'bot huffed comically already knowing what Optimus was going to ask. "I shall watch over Sam Optimus and I'm sure Will Lennox will mind little since he is presently stationed a few hundred miles away … Sarah hasn't been informed of what I am yet so you could say my schedule's free."

A calm smile spread on Optimus face. "Good. We'll conclude this discussion when more information is available … now autobots, roll out!"

A squeal of twisting gears and dancing metal filled the area and before Miles knew it there in the place of the four giant robots were four vehicles … the little yellow shuddered in agony when his transformation was complete. The teenager couldn't help but notice the soft whining of worry that escaped the Topkick.

"Do not worry Ironhide … I'll take him to a more secure location for the rest of the repairs and he'll be fully functional in no time." Came the Search and Rescue Hummer beside the camaro.

Sam would have laughed at the weapon specialists strange, almost soft reaction to Bumblebee's predicament, but something suddenly crawled into his chest now that the panic was gone destroying the calm Optimus had been able to set on his shoulders. It was like living barbwire was crawling up his chest and towards his arms. Sam swallowed and looked over at Bumblebee as the marks on his hands stated to glow a dim almost unnoticeable blue… the warmth in his hands seemed to explode as tiny little sparks started to jump into the air around him like little fireflies. He. Had. To. Get. Away! He now knew for certain he had been the one who caused the explosion in the parking lot thus hurting 'Bee! He was also the one who had hurt Mikaela and nearly barbecued Miles. He could hurt the other transformers as well if he didn't MOVE!

The teenager's feet struggled to scramble, but all he could do was stare at the marks on his hands as the burning sensation turned ice-cold. What was he doing just standing here again? He had to get away from the other autobots! Sam's feet all the sudden dug into the soft earth as he propelled himself forward towards the steep ditch that made the outlook, well, an outlook. There was a hum of turning gears as one of the autobots hollered behind him, but before Sam could even turn his head to see which autobot had transformed his foot hit an extremely soft patch of earth and he went down hard. The ground seemed to jump as his hands slammed into the ground, a collection of screams echoed over the grounds as well as a loud clunk!

It felt like eternity until Sam was finally able to pull his face out of the dirt and sit on his knees. His breath caught as he stared at the world around him. The very air was jumping with billions of small electric-like fireflies that scattered in all directions dancing on the wind until the small orbs of energy would disappear into the night air or drown in the dew on the grass. Sam blinked once or twice more wondering if what he was seeing was real when a loud groan dragged him back to reality. Sam jumped to his feet looking behind himself quickly … he couldn't help but notice that all the autobots were back to their bipedal forms. Ratchet was kneeling beside Bumblebee holding him lazily on one leg. The transformer in question seemed out of it … unconscious. At that Optimus lazily ran a finger over the other yellow bots face lifting up his battle mask … his optics were dark.

A slow tired metallic sigh escaped the medic. "It seems there is more damage here then I originally concluded Optimus." The medic then looked around the area and at the huge weapons specialists as he got to his feet rubbing his aft. "Ironhide … was Sam affected by Bumblebee's discharge?"

"Tha' was Bee?" Grumbled the huge bot as he quickly scanned the area for Sam half thankful that 'Bee had dropped Mikaela off at home so there was only one human to worry about. "I was sure a truck had just hit me … or Optimus." A growl escaped the medic and Ironhide tried not to flinch. Maybe joking wasn't the best thing to do around Ratchet when one of the team was injured.

Sam's legs gave out on him as he stared at Bumblebee and his metal form that seemed so small with the two larger forms of Optimus and Ratchet leaning over him. What was wrong with him! He had hurt Bee twice! Sam suddenly found himself wishing he was in the glass covered parking lot again so he could slam his hands into the sharp glass … how could he?

"Sam Witwicky?"

The teenager's head snapped up from his blood-dried hands to see that both Optimus and Ratchet were looking at him. "Sam … you're heart rate is accelerating at an alarming rate. Have you been injured?"

Sam barely had time to shake his head when he felt Ironhide's shadow overcome him. "It's alright kid … if you're worried about 'Bee don't be. Ratchet might be a scalpel wielding terror, but he's not the Chief medic for nothin'." A singing sound of twisting gears filled the outlook as the weapon's specialist's alt mode appeared before him. The passenger side door flew open. "Come on kid let me take you home."

A sadness set in the pit of Sam's stomach as he watched his companion's unconscious form being hauled into a bridal carry by Optimus … why hadn't Optimus believed him that it was his fault? It was his fault right? The soft hum of Ironhide's engines brought Sam back to earth.

"Yah … maybe some sleep will clear my head." Sam nervously got into the Topkick expecting another jolt of electricity … but there was nothing. Not even a jump of static from his hands. Sam swallowed as he watched Optimus and Ratchet disappear up the hill, Bumblebee in tow.

"I said don't worry kid. Now lets get out of here. I'll be stayin' with you till 'Bee's fully function … understood?" Sam nodded and Ironhide sent up a flur of soft dirt as he drove over Frenzy's grave, not even noticing the hiss from the decepticon in the grass nor the unconscious whimpers of the human whom had been knocked out by the electric surge … all he was paying attention to was the panicked skips of Sam's heart.

…

Miles smelled the scent of grass enter his nostrils as well as the feel of cool dew dripping down his face. The teenager opened his eyes with a panicked gasp but didn't throw himself up … Sam had been running straight in his direction just a moment ago and then he fell, a flash of light, and then everything was a fuzzy mess of electricity. The human quickly sat up patting his hands all over his chest checking to make sure all his body parts were still there and then a frightened whimper escaped him when the light of the moon was suddenly disappeared. His heart slammed violently again his rib cage as the huge black 'bot glared down at him … despite the millions of little electric dots that were floating through the air like cherry blossoms Miles knew that this thing was anything but a guardian angel.

Slowly, the decepticon reached out his long metallic fingers reaching for Miles' quivering form … Miles of course found himself running up the steep incline to the outlook, little spurts of electricity nipped at him as he disturbed the air they were floating in. He had to get to the top of the hill and get the frick out of here! The teenager couldn't help but scream as he tripped in a patch of soft earth creating a Miles shaped dirt angel where he fell … a scared whimper escaped him as he looked over his shoulder at the giant robot that was slowly coming his way hissing something in a metallic sounding language.

Barricade couldn't help but hiss as he watched another being fall into Frenzy's grave! What the PIT! Here he travels upward to the middle of nowhere thinking his companion could lie in peace, not that he was much fond of peace, but instead every autobot and human they knew had decided to stomp over it in the past twenty human earth minutes! He'd crush them all … but first he had to deal with this small pathetic rodent before the human ran off giving the autobots conformation that he was still very alive and, as the humans would say, kicking. Why a human would need to kick to prove they were alive was beyond Barricade's thinking, but then again, why did it matter? He had no want to further violate his circuits with human knowledge or understanding … Primus, he hated this rock.

Barricade's metallic hand was about to grab the shaking being … when it happened. The soft ground gave a jerk upwards and both the human and transformer halted in their present actions. … A moment of silence passed and there was nothing so the two beings continued in their game of going-to-kill-the-witness, but as soon as Barricade's hand was two inches from the shivering human there was another jump of the earth. The decepticon's metallic face pulled itself into an expression that could be little else then confusion as he knelt down to see what was causing this … and then a single metallic arm popped out of the ground thrusting dirt all through the air and into Barricade's optics.

The giant robot couldn't help but loose his balance at the sudden shock that overcame his CPU falling heavily onto his aft. His sensory system kicked into overdrive as he tried to remove the earth from his optics … the only thing he was able to observe was the blurry form of a panicky human who had risen to his feet screeching, "Cheese-whiz almighty! ZOMBIE! Oh my mother fucking god, it's a zombie!"

The human's screech echoed over the area in a way that made Starscream's scratchy voice seem … tame, but that was the least of Barricade's concerns as he quickly entered the World Web to see what this 'zombie' was and how it managed to bring fear to this human that he had not been able too. His visual was suddenly overcome with pictures of undead forms, blood, gore, and cannibalism galore. The decepticon didn't know what to make of it … his mind just kicked into to the 'fight or flight' reaction that the humans had and he found himself screeching.

Barricade's gears scrapped roughly together as he slid backwards on his aft trying to distance himself from this 'zombie', but even through his dimmed optics he could see that this horrid creature, that disbanded the laws of nature, was slowly pulling itself out of the earth muttering something incoherent.

Another unearthly screech of metal grinding on metal escaped the huge bot when the 'zombie' leapt forward and latched itself onto his chassis trying to gets its undead fingers under the armored plate where Frenzy's form use to dwell. Barricade batted it off and clumsily tried to get to his feet only to slip in the wet earth and fall with a loud clud, ground shaking. A hiss escaped the zombie as it slowly drew itself off the ground only to jump into the air and try to latch itself on the decepticon again. This time it successfully released the hatch that led to his chest compartment. The undead fiend then started to crawl into his chest.

Barricade suddenly stood up scratching at his plating. Oh Primus, it was going to start devouring him from the inside out! Another more terrified screech escaped the huge robot being and he grabbed the beast by one of its thrashing legs and then flung it away with a snap of his wrist joint. There was a squeal as the thing went flying. Barricade was about to let out the equivalent of a human sigh, but as soon as the blurred being hit the ground it hissed racing back towards him. Barricade, whose CPU was still being overloaded by images of zombies, thought of an ingenious escape plan that very moment.

…

Frenzy titled his head … twitching slightly at the rawness of his slightly reassembled head. He was in dire need of repair and recharge! Both of which could be easily obtained if the slaging idiot would just get down!

"Barrrrricaddddeeee!" Hissed the little 'con as he glared upward at the huge bot that was meticulously sprawled in the branches of a huge oak tree. How the Primus he was able to keep himself up there was something to be dwelled on another day. At the moment Frenzy's circuits were freezing up and he needed the shelter of Barricade's chest to keep himself from die- … had he been dead? The little bot froze his twitching movements as his CPU searching for the answer, yet he was quickly distracted from the question as a huge branch cracked under Barricade's weight, nearly crushing him as it fell to the ground. Yet somehow the Saleen Mustang still remained in the tree clutching to the flimsy branches for dear life. "Bararacade! Get get the Slaslang down he-here before mymy circuits freeeeze!"

The huge bot stopped his panicking and tried to wipe some of the wet dirt out of his optics. "Frenzy? … But you're dead! I buried you! Oh Primus! Frenzy you're a zombie!"

Frenzy stared at his partner for a moment … what was this zombie? Was it a good thing? The little 'bot, despite his aching and fried circuits, accessed the World Wide Web researching zombies. Before Barricade could even allow a proper screech of terror Frenzy was scampering up the tree, up his leg, and into his chassis, slamming the compact shut so he was properly hidden inside Barricade's chest. The huge 'con of course had lost his balance amongst the branches and soon found himself sprawled on the ground his coolant systems working overtime.

Barricade's coolant system was taking in air at an alarming rate as he waited for circuits to start to be devoured … instead he felt a warmth in his chest compartment as the being started to fall into recharge and repair mode. His internal systems quickly told him that this was indeed Frenzy and he was not deactivated, but badly damaged. The huge bot allowed his optics to go dim as the decepticon inside him started to steal some energy from his form … for his repairs no doubt. Barricade allowed a human like sigh to escape him as he slowly started to fall into recharge beneath the tree caring little if some unfortunate human would accidentally run across a giant robot sprawled out in the grass. What matter at the moment was that he wasn't alone … he wasn't alone.

"_Barricade_?" Came a voice over his radio link.

"_Yes_?"

"_You scream like a femme bot_." What could only be called a grin spread on the huge 'cons face as his optics went dark … he didn't even notice that the strange human from earlier was watching him. Watching ever so silently until he finally started hightailing it out of there, tripping halfway down the lookouts drop in his hurry.

XXX

Paw07: Urg … my brain meats. Okay a few issues to address. First off, yes, you guys are probably thinking Barricade's not that wimpy … well, he'd not be, normally, but if I was the only decepticon on earth with dozens of more autobots coming my way I'd be a little skittish too. I also got two requests for a Sam/Bee … umm, sorry not with this story but if more people ask maybe I'll sit down and write another story or maybe a one-shot. Lastly … man sorry this chapter took so long. It was suppose to be like five thousand words, but then little scenes just started to fill in the crevices and yah, hope the length is satisfactory.

Lastly … _Source for Nazism_: wikipeadia baby. :P


	3. The Boy Who Cried Invasion

Chapter 3: The Boy Who Cried Invasion

XXX

Sam was staring at his hands again … or at least the bandages that were covering his hands. His mother nearly had a small convulsion when he came down in the morning. She had demanded to know where he had gotten those scrapes and bruises, why his hands were wrapped, and why her baby was in illegal underground car races. Sam gave her a questioned look and she merely pointed out at the black Topkick that was parked next to his dad's little 'baby'. She then started crying hysterically asking God where she had gone wrong. It took a few seconds and a glass of orange juice, but Sam finally got it … mom thought he lost his Camaro and won the Topkick instead … um, maybe he should have thought a little more on his explanation about the new car and how he had managed to get rid of his old Camaro in street race. What? He was tired after the whole Megatron thing and that idea was on top of his head so he threw it out there. So after a few hugs and a promise to his mother that he was just borrowing the Topkick till his car was fixed, because of an accident it was in, and all was better. Luckily, his story was back when the morning news covered the parking lot episode saying it was caused when a transformer blew: there was irony in there somewhere, but Sam didn't dwell on it as he headed for school ready to apologize to Miles and get a kiss from Mikaela.

"Sam?"

The human jumped from his musings and threw his head upwards staring at the radio. He had almost forgotten Ironhide was his 'vehicle' till 'Bee recovered … if he recovered. "What's up Ironhide?"

Ironhide was silent for a moment as if he was deep in thought. "Sam Witwicky I am no exper' at this school thing of yours, but I'm rather sure that school doesn't consist of youngster's sitting in their cars all day."

Sam snapped out of his stupor as he stared at the empty schoolyard in front of him. "Um Ironhide … how long has it been since the bell rang?"

"That irritating buzzing noise that all the other younglings were drawn too?"

"Yes." Whimpered Sam … how long had he been out of it?

"About a human hour … why Sam? Should I-

"I'm late for first period!"

Ironhide didn't even have time to wish the being luck as he jumped out his side door and stumbled up the steps … well at least the human was acting normal again. His heartbeat had been so slow this morning Ironhide had considered calling the school and impersonating Samuel's parents so the youngster could be looked at by Ratchet and then go see Bumblebee … that's what he was depressed about right?

XXX

Barricade was surprised … not surprised by the fact that he had waken up from recharge and the dream of Frenzy coming back from deactivation wasn't really a dream, not that transformers dreamed or anything, but the fact that Frenzy wasn't acting Frenzy-ish. His little partner in crime hadn't once yet demanded that they cause a twenty car pile up, scare old ladies into heart attacks, put kittens in trees and laugh at the humans as they tried to get them out, put viruses on the world wide web, flame people, randomly moon people as he went down the highway with his hologram, or cause any overall chaos and destruction. There was nothing … he hadn't even twitched or spoken.

The Saleen slowly pulled over under a dead underpass and whispered through his com link. "Frenzy? What is your status?"

No answer … not even a twitch from under his hood.

"Frenzy?"

No answer still. The larger mech quickly started to run some internal scans. Frenzy was still activated so why the slag wasn't he answering … or moving. Frenzy always moved, even during recharge. It was the most sickening feeling when they first became partners to feel the little leach stealing energy from him and moving around almost all the time … true, when he had thought Frenzy deactivated it was even more sickening to know that he'd never feel that again, but a few days of loneness can remind mech how little nuisances like moving around inside you really are not a big issue compared to the bigger picture; and right now the big picture was focused on the fact that Frenzy must be more heavily damaged then he had first thought. Of course Barricade couldn't be sure of that until he took him out for a looking at. Frenzy just hated being forcefully pulled out ... so if he came out hissing everything was in optimal condition. If not … Barricade hoped his mingier medical skills were good enough.

…

The Decepticon was making his way down the crowded highway in a soft pace … speeding, but not so much so that he'd attract any attention. His tires had a rhythmical property as he passed cars, busses, minivans, and the occasional, ugh, semi. He was heading out of town; He really didn't want to risk his spark signature being picked up when he transformed out of those alt form. In truth he was rather tense … what if he couldn't fix Frenzy? Would he have to slowly watch him go offline or … would he have to put Frenzy out of his misery? The larger mech shook the thought from his processors. There was no proof that his partner was nothing more the recharging, deeply. The little slag might even be mocking him … probably wanted to 'sleep in' as the humans would say. Besides, him rushing would only attracted attention. _Calm steady pace, calm steady pace._

Barricade's wheels were snug on the road as he titled his form down an off ramp, the force dragging him more then his own engine. The Decepticon still was having a hard time comprehending the fact that he wasn't alone on this mud ball. He'd fix Frenzy so it was best not to linger on what ifs and then as if by request the little glitch in his chest twitched.

"Frenzy?" Tried the larger bot. "Frenzy … report."

There was a violent jerk from his partner as if he was expecting to be attacked. It was a sickening feeling to feel the smaller being crawl around in his insides trying to find away out until he finally calmed and whispered. "B-barricade?"

"Who else?" Grumbled the Saleen as he passed a bus full of cheerleaders who waved and shook their pompoms at him. The Decepticon ignored the need to squish and picked up his speed to get away form the disgustingly happy young humans.

"H-how did-did I get here?"

The larger mech twitched. There was no joking tone to Frenzy's vocal processors which meant that he probably had some memory processing chips damaged. No surprise there. Half his head had been sliced off. Wait! The Decepticon nearly slammed on his breaks as a thought hit him … How the slang had Frenzy's processors healed a wound like that so quickly? He had only buried the smaller Decepticon for a few human hours before he rose … maybe the repairs weren't as extensive as they had looked last night; not that he got a good look. Barricade had to remind himself later to threaten the smaller bot about never mentioning that 'incident' last night less he wanted to be deactivated … if he remembered at all that is.

"I rescued you from the Hoover Dam … and a while later you crawled into my chassis of your own accord. Do you recall or are some of your memory chips damaged?"

The little bot was silent … he twitched violently for a moment and then went dead still. "I hear trafffffffic. Wh-where are you-you going?"

"Away from the Autobots." Hissed the Saleen in distaste. He still had the image of Optimus crushing in his metal skull stuck in his processors … it was an irrational fear that would probably never pass until either he or Optimus was off the planet. Hopefully him.

"Th-they're still alive?"

Barricade was silent for a moment as he passed another vehicle. Frenzy didn't know … he didn't know they were the only two Decepticons left, no trapped, on this horrible filthy little planet that was bound to have more Autobots dropping in soon. Should he 'sugar coat' the truth like the pesky little humans always did? No … Frenzy deserved more then that. "Yes … they won Frenzy. Megatron is dead, Starscream in a deserter and a coward, and you and me are only two Decepticons left on this filthy little mud ball."

Frenzy was silent. " … could-could of tr-tried to sugar coat-coat it you-you know."

Barricade couldn't stop himself … his engine revved in an abnormal pace and it couldn't be mistaken for nothing more then laughter. It was nice … yes, nice was the right word, it was nice to have Frenzy back.

There was silence after that. Barricade had demanded that his little partner go back into recharge so that he could continue to repair his delicate system and so he could drive … he had nearly plowed into a garbage truck during that last laughing fit. Barricade couldn't remember the last time he laughed so hard … maybe this mud ball could offer a little humor after all.

There was silence on the road after about an hour. Frenzy seemed to be deep in recharge and Barricade had forced himself to search the World Wide Web to find a good place to set up base camp and look at Frenzy's injuries. The Saleen had just started to investigate the providence of North Dakota when Frenzy suddenly screamed.

The scream slammed through Barricade's form, jumped through the air crashing into passing cars … and then it was raining glass. Every car in the vicinity slammed on its breaks as their drivers screamed out in pain when the glass shattered every vehicular window. Barricade could barely contain a scream as well when Frenzy's still form became erratic … so erratic that he smaller little bot started to claw away at Barricade's inner mechanics breaking energon lines and ripping through sensitive circuitry. Overall gutting him form from the inside out.

Sadly, Barricade couldn't take the agony of being ripped apart by the inside as well as the stress of trying to dodging traffic simultaneously. Barricade finally gave into the havoc of his form, screamed, and lost all motor control, slamming into the ditch and throwing up dirt in a wave.

XXX

"Oh! I'm makin' me some pancakes for the early morn! Oh some delicious slightly nutritish pancakes in the morning!" Judy Witwicky stopped in her singing and stared at the clock above the stove and then giggled to herself as she pulled her hair behind one ear. "Okay … maybe it's more like late afternoon pancakes." She then sighed when she suddenly noticed she forgot to add the milk to the batter and headed over the fridge. It was then that she noticed the being standing the doorway staring at her. There was mud caked all over the person's flesh and their eyes where covered with a pair of goggles giving the being a rather mysterious look. There was a moment of odd silence before Judy started to scream as well as the stranger.

"EKKKKKKKKKKKK!"

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"Ekkkkkkkkkkkkkkk!"

AAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHh!"

"Take that you serial killer zombie!" The woman took the pan that she had been making the pancakes with and started hitting the poor filth covered being in the arm. "Take that and that and that. Huh! You want some syrup with your PANcakes?" The woman then took a bottle of syrup and threw it at him. She then stopped for a moment and stated chirpily, "… huh? I made a funny." The woman blinked in surprise then as she watched the supposed serial killer slide down against the wall whimpering.

"Judy. It's me Miles! MILES. Please don't chop me up and make me into pancakes!" He cried as he fell to the floor completely. The woman glared at him like she was not convinced and then started to walk toward him, frying pan still in tow. Miles threw his hands over his head expecting more of a beating as the woman took a closer step holding onto the frying pan with this glint in her eyes that said, '_I'm so going to kill you, chop you up into little bacon bits, and feed you to my family so stay still_.' … Okay, maybe he imagined the bacon part.

"Miles." Whispered the woman as she slowly leaned down onto her knees placing the pan on the floor; the shock was evident in her eyes. Only Sam's dorky friend would say something that … stupid wasn't the right word. So her hands gently unclasped his fingers away from his head and pulled the goggles down so they hung on his neck. "Oh MILES! Deary, what are you doing here! What happened! Why are HERE!" She quickly pulled the whimpering boy up and practically dragged him over to the couch; pulling a blanket off the back of the couch and wrapping it around his shaking shoulders … Sam always dragged half his bedding down with him in the morning. Generally it was a pain, but right now she was glad for her son slobbish ways.

The teenager looked around widely for a moment until he asked in a shaken tone. "Judy … do-do you think I'm crazy?"

The woman was silent for a moment … showing up caked in mud wasn't considered crazy was it? "No … no sweety. You're just different."

Miles gave her a worried look. "Different … you mean crazy right? I don't want to be crazy! Maybe, I just-just hit my head really hard. Yah. That's it."

Judy licked her teeth. Change of subject. "Um … sweety why don't you tell me why you're here?"

The teenager suddenly latched onto her shirt frightening the woman slightly. "Is Sam's car here? I'm not talking if it's here!"

The woman raised an eyebrow. "No … its windshield is being replaced or he lost it in an illegal car race; either one."

"Good … are we under attack yet? Are we being invaded! TELL ME! Who is my robot overlord! It's the green one isn't it! The drug lord! It's the green one!"

XXX

Sam found himself searching. He waited by the locker. He waited by the computer lounge. He waited near the dungeon (don't ask). He waited outside of the principles office. He was so desperate he even peaked into the girl's locker room … that didn't end well. Yet he couldn't find Miles anywhere! "Where is he!"

As if on cue the phone rang making the poor teen jump and knock into several people in the hall. Barely anyone had this number and nobody was dumb enough to call during school, except maybe Miles when he got stuffed in a locker, so that must mean it was an emergency. Sam's hand's shook as he fumbled to open his phone … was it Optimus. Had Optimus found out it was him who had hurt 'Bee … was Bumblebee dead?

"Hello! Is Bumblebee –

"This is no time to be worrying about your car Sam!" Came a panicked voice.

" … mom?" Asked Sam stupidly as he felt his heart dive. This was so not going to end well.

"Who else would be calling you in the middle of the school day … well, except Miles. Oh wait! Get your ass home mister. Miles is here and –

"Is it my robot master drug lord!" Came a voice from the background.

"Um mom … what are you listening too?" Sam knew his mom NEVER watched science fiction. NEVER! She ignored it like the plague.

"WHAT AM I LISTENING TOO? WHAT AM I LISTENING TOO? That's why I'm calling you! Sam get your ass home now." Sam's eyes were large as his mother freaked out over the phone, yet her tone suddenly turned soft and worried. "Please come home … something's seriously wrong Sam and he won't talk to me."

Sam found himself jogging, no more like running but faster then that, to Ironhide. The Topkick sighed. He had been researching this High School for the past three hours and the more he did the more worried he became. It seemed high school was a place of breeding, violence, drama, and more violence … the Decepticons would have loved it. The Topkick called out to the human as he drew near. "I will not be an accomplice to your delinquency kid." Stated Ironhide simply as he shifted on his tires. "A soldier can't be a soldier if they don't train … um, school in your particular case."

"What are you talkin' about?" Said Sam in a desperate tone as he ran over to the driver's side door only to find out it was locked. "Open up!"

"I've seen Ferris Bueller's Day Off Witwicky … you are not going to join a parade and steal a car as well as many other misdemeanor things. I'm sorry Sam I will not help you in your juvenile activity."

Sam raised a brow. "Hello! Do I look like a juvenile delinquent!" He cried throwing his hands into the air, "… wait … you've seen Ferris Bueller's Day Off?"

"Yes, now please return to your tranin' soldier!" Demanded the Topkick. Optimus had put Sam in his care and Ironhide was bound and determined to do just that. He wasn't going to be cursed at by Bumblebee for letting his human skip training.

Sam glared at Topkick in disbelief. "You're kidding right? That was a movie. A MOVIE!" The Topkick still made no move that he was changing his answer. Sam glared at him and pulled his hand into a fist only to wince when he did so. A frown quickly crossed his face as well then a smile as he stared down at his bandaged hands. "Fine, if you won't take me home I'll hitchhike." Sam tried not to smile as he walked away. "And who knows what kind of freak would pick up a hitchhiker. Probably a murderer or something and I won't be able to defend myself. Bum hands and all." Stated Sam sourly as he let his hands go limp and noodle-like. "Oh well, hopefully I'll end up with a pedophile over a serial killer. I can deal with being traumatized for life over being dead."

Sam had reached the main drag and was already putting a thumb out when there was a squeal of tires and a flash of black as Ironhide pulled up nearly jump the curb. "Get in youngling!"

The human tried not to smile … Ironhide must have run into the Hitcher or one of the many other drastically over gored hitchhiker movies on the World Wide Web. "Okay."

Sam smile slowly started to fade as they headed home. Mom was freaked, but she was use to Miles' eccentric ways so what got her so riled up? It then occurred to Sam then and there … had he also hurt Miles more then he had thought. Was he even safe to be around anyone anymore? True, his hands hadn't done anything for a while, but that's not to say it wouldn't happen again.

XXX

Miles jumped in his seat on the couch as he heard a semi drive pass the house. The giant-drug-dealing-robots hadn't invaded yet so it must have meant that they were going to slowly destroy the populace from the inside instead of straightforward with guns blazing. His McDonalds idea must have been right, but instead of turning the population fat they were just going to get everyone addicted to drugs and therefore the pillars on which society stood on would crumble; making way for the giant-drug-dealing robots. Miles swallowed … he didn't want to be a slave and what he fuck was Sam doing with the evil robots anyhow? Was he trying to become the next Hitler or something … or was he a victim of sorts … maybe he was brainwashed! Yes, that defiantly had to be it. Sam was not the conquering the world type so the evil robots must be lying to him. "Don't worry bro … I'll save you from the evil robots."

"What was that honey?" Asked Judy nervously from the kitchen as she tried to fix something to eat for the staring child since he hadn't eaten since yesterday.

"Nothing." Repeated Miles in an exhausted tone as he slumped in the blankets against the couch. He was rather sure Judy wouldn't be able to take the information about her son being controlled by evil giant robots … that or she'd make a little call which would then make him a permanent residence in a white padded room. Besides, he wanted to talk to Sam before he put the 'news' on YouTube.

XXX

Sam nearly fell flat on his face as he rushed out of the Topkick. If he had to take one more lecture that was based off what an alien car had seen off _Ferris Bueller's Day Off_ he was going to find Barricade and beg the being to squish him.

"Freedom!" Hissed Sam as he landed on the ground grabbing at the grass as if it was the first time he had ever touched land.

The Topkick revved his engine in distaste. He wasn't done yet! "Kid you mus' promise me that you won't put 'Bee on blocks and put him into full reverse … the last thing I need is to drag a half scrapped Camaro to Ratchet. I mean why is mileage -

Sam was already gone and in the house.

"I wonder why Sam Witwicky didn' move that fast when being chased by Megatron?"

…

Sam nearly collapsed against the door when he got inside. "That's it … I'm walking to school." It was then that Sam noticed that the house was eerie. It was to quiet. Generally it was only quite in the house when Judy was outside making noise. She was constantly talking, singing, moving, and overall to … there was no word for his mother.

The human swallowed and dropped his backpack softly into the Lazy Boy. His eyes shifted from one side of the living room to the other … he wasn't being paranoid or anything it's just an instinct that a person picks up after being a soldier. Even if Sam had only been a solider of a day or two, he was still a soldier and held a soldiers instinct. Something was wrong … his mother hadn't been lying or even her usual over-exaggerated self. Something was WRONG!

The teen swallowed when he heard a sniffled come from the joining room. Sam quietly dropped to his belly and started to crawl towards the sound. He didn't know what to expect, but he wasn't going to take any chances. Once in the next room the teenager noticed that the sniffling noise was coming from the couch. He peaked over the couches arm; there was someone sitting there with a blanket over themselves. Sam slowly got to his feet and cautiously made his way to the shivering being.

"Mom?" The teenager whisper and then he pulled off the blanket only to reveal a dirt covered hobo … and the hobo screamed. Of course out of reflex Sam screamed as well and jumped back only to hit into someone behind him who screamed as well. There was a collection of screams until Sam finally grew breathless and stopped, settling for nervous little gasps.

A small chuckle came from behind him suddenly and he looked upward to see that he had ran into his mother whom was holding what looked like a stalk of pancakes and a glass of milk. "Well, that was exciting. Never thought I'd have a good scream like that in me … reminds me of the time you took me to the horror movie. Oh, that was bloody." Judy was all bubbly despite the fact that there was a hobo on her couch. Sam just didn't get his mother sometimes.

"M-mom why is there s hobo in the house?"

Sam was answered with a slap to the back of the head. His mother quickly walked right pass and him and over to the 'hobo'. "Eat up Miles. I need Sam to take the garbage out quick okay. Then you can talk."

Miles wasn't an idiot, but he took the pancakes nonetheless. He was starving and nobody can fight giant robots on an empty stomach. "Sure."

Sam's eyes got wide as he watched his filth covered companion shovel in pancakes. "Wh-what?" Was all Sam could ask stupidly as his mother dragged him into the kitchen.

Once the kitchen door was closed Sam was sure he'd get some answers; sadly, he only grew more confused. "M-mom … why is Miles covered in dirt, on our couch covered in my blanket and eating our food … not that he usually doesn't do those things when he comes over, but … but this is –

Judy grabbed her son by his shoulders and looked him directly in the eye. "Sam please tell me what kind of drugs are Miles and you taking? Is it Marijuana? Cocaine? What is it Sam?"

Sam's jaw was slacked as he looked away from the kitchen door that led to the living room and to his mother. "Wha?"

"It's okay Sam. You can tell me. I won't be mad. I mean even I tried Marijuana when I was younger. Please just tell me, if not for me then for Miles. I think he might have gotten some bad 'stuff'." Judy tried to keep calm even though she wanted to be shaking her son until he blurted out who his dealer was so she could hunt the bastard down and kill him with a cooking pan.

Sam's brain was still stuck on the fact that his mother did drugs when she was younger … well, that answered a lot. "Wha … I'm still confused. Um mom I don't –

"Don't lie to me Samuel! I heard Miles distinctively mention drug lords … of course he also asked me if he was crazy so …" The woman went silent for a moment as she recalled how sturdy minded the boy had been when he first came over and how he had quickly lost it like he was bi-polar or something … maybe he was crazy? "You and Miles aren't doing drugs are you?"

The teenager shook his head, his brown hair dancing. "I know I'm not … but after seeing Miles I'm not so sure about him. Mom how did he –

The woman cut him off again. "Sam does Miles have any prescriptions he suppose to be taking cause he might just be crazy." Sam's eyes got wide. Man his mother was blunt. "Now get that stolen, won, illegal, whatever pickup of yours and take him to the hospital. I would have taken him myself, but he knows you better then he knows me. Miles is a good boy … I wish he was still your best bud though." The mother let go of her son's shoulders and gave him a gentle push towards the closed door.

"What do you mean by that?" Asked Sam in a worried tone as he walked over the door ready to comfort his pal.

"Nothing sweety." She added softly. She was old, not blind. Miles hadn't barged into their house in days; he hadn't even called at two in the morning as usual. Miles was no longer Sam's main companion … his car and Mikaela were.

…

Sam found himself unnerved as he walked around the couch and sat next to his best pal. The teenager looked from Miles' grime covered fingers to the now empty plate on the coffee table. He put a calming hand on his pals shoulder getting Miles to look away from his hands and at him. "What's up bud … why are you not in school?"

Miles' eyes were tired as he turned to look at his once-upon-a-time best bud in the world. "I had to track back home through the dirt. My moped is totaled."

Sam resisted the urge to jump to his feet and sing 'Praise to the World'. Thank god, it was finally dead. Sam just knew it was a matter of time till the thing ended up implanted in 'Bee's armor cause it had done so to pretty much every other vehicle on the block already … if they knew it or not. "That's to bad Miles … but that still doesn't explain why you come here rambling to my mom about drug lords and other crazy stuff."

Miles eyes got wide. "I ... I'm crazy aren't I?"

Sam was taken aback. He had never heard such a desperate tone EVER escape his pal. Miles was always in a good mood, cranky from time to time, but always in a good mood! "No, bud! You're, you're fine…. Um Miles did you hit your head yesterday? Maybe that's what's wrong. You're not crazy. Okay?"

Miles felt sick to his stomach now. His best pal thought he was crazy. Great, but he was so sure that what he had seen last night was real, but he did hit his head last night when he crashed his moped. It could have all been a dream caused by the crash. The cars coming to life, the robot zombie, everything was just too weird to be real. Yah that made since. "Yah … I hit my head twice. When I dropped to the pavement to try to put the fire out on my cloths … and when I crash my moped, but I had a helmet on then. I could-could have dreamed it all."

Sam winced at Miles mention of the parking lot incident. Oh god. Sam had heard that large amounts of electricity can cause brain damage … had he hurt Miles? Oh god. He had to get him to Ratchet. Ratchet was a medic so he technically wasn't disregarding his mother's request. Sam quickly stood up scaring Miles who was acting like a scared rabbit. Sam quickly put a hand out despite his friend's frightened twitch. "Come on Miles. I'm taking you to a friend to make sure you're heads okay … okay?"

Miles' frown increased. "You mean a doctor right?"

_Sort of. _"Yah, come on give me your hand. You look kind of woozy and the last thing I need is you passing out on me."

…

The Sam clung tightly to his friend as he slowly led him outside; trying not to trip in the process. Dang! He should have made Ironhide park towards the back door and not at the end of block where he jumped out. Now they had to walk all the way around. "It's okay Miles everything's going to be alright."

Miles merely twitched. He hated doctors and the thought of being put into one of those claustrophobic scanners wasn't helping manners, but at least the drug lords weren't real. It was just a pain based dream. Miles nearly tripped on the blanket as Sam willed him forward. Damn, he could still walk so why was Sam acting like he was bleeding to death or something. "Sam I can walk just fine. It's my head, not my legs."

Sam wasn't paying attention to Miles' whining … the stupid Topkick had finally caught on that this wasn't a joke. He could see Ironhide quietly pulling up towards the backyard.

… Sam of course didn't notice that Miles had noticed the Topkick as well … and the fact that it had no driver.

Miles' spine went stiff and his fight or flight reflex kicked into high gear as he recognized the vehicle … it was one of the vehicles from last night. Miles quickly threw off the blanket on his shoulders and grabbed is bud shaking him slightly. "No, Sam stop! The giant drug lords are going to take over the earth! The earth! I'm not mad! But oh god … they've got you under mind control don't they? You don't know what you're doing. Oh god, please listen to me!"

Sam's heart quickly fell into a panic. Dear god no. It was worse then he thought. Miles' brain was fried. He had to get him to Ratchet now and spill his guts ... damn be the consequences. He wouldn't loose two friends in one day. "It's aright Miles. The drug lords are sneaking pass airport security at the moment … let's get you into the Topkick okay?"

Sam gave a tug on his friend and Miles took a few steps forward only to suddenly dig his feet into the concrete causing Sam to slam against him and send them both to the ground in a huff. Sam was about to help his shaken friend to his feet when there was a stifled scream. Miles had started to scream, stopped himself by slapping a hand over his mouth, and then jumped into the bushes.

Sam stared at his cowering friend for a moment and then towards the road. His face telling Ironhide all he needed to know as the black vehicle drove pass and quickly headed towards the back drive. The human's captured breath was quickly released as he watched the transformer pull into the driveway and park, ready to go. Sam then turned his attention back to Miles. "Um Miles … why are you hiding? I told you there are no drug lords. It's okay to come out."

Miles' eyes were wide with fear as he continued to hide in the bushes. "I didn't know where they might be, but I knew they could be anywhere. ANYWHERE! And they're HERE!" Squealed Miles as he grabbed Witwicky by his shirt collar and dragged him into the bushes with him. Sam wasn't even allowed a word in edge wise as Miles started to shake him. "Tell me now buddy! Is it mind control? MIND CONTROL! Did they abducted you and put some kind of probe in yuh'! Tell me where it is buddy so I can get it out." Miles blushed for a moment as he said the next line. "Unless it's up your ass then I'm going to have to kill you."

Sam blinked … man. Miles' brain was really scrambled. "Wah?"

Miles screamed in irritation and pulled at his mud drenched hair. "NO! God it's worse then I though! It's in your brain … if you try to tell me anything it'll scramble your beautiful mind. Don't try to speak Sam." Miles threw his dirty hands over his pals mouth … Sam tried not to cringe. Ugh, he was going to take a long bath once he was sure Miles was okay. "Just stay quiet … there's this tattoo guy I know down the street. He dropped out of med school so he might be able to get it out. Now let's get out of here before," Miles eyes shifted as he looked around, "our overlords notice."

Sam only had time to squeak as Miles practically sung his friend over his shoulder in a fireman carry and started to dash out of the bushes and towards the alley away from Ironhide.

"What! Let me down! Miles! Miles! I need to get you to a hospital! MILES!"

"Sush! Before the metal drug lords hear you."

XXX

Paw07: lol … you know what I just did? I added my transformers fics to my own C2 … that's so low. So low the worms won't even eat me … hum, I wonder if I've reached hell yet? Anyway, I find that this story has a real contrast feel to it … the beginning is depressing as hell and then bam you're probably laughing. So does this count a cliffhanger? I don't know? … Man, I can't wait to write 'Cades next scene.


	4. Breaking and Building Bridges

Chapter 4: Breaking and Building Bridges

XXX

Sam had given up fighting his friend after a few minutes and thought of it this way, 'At least he wasn't wandering the streets alone.' The teenager only had time to duck a clothes line as Miles dragged him through another yard, which was followed by the scrapping of cement under tennis shoes as the two entered another alley, again. Was this chase through the suburbia ever going to end? God, it was like one of those looping backgrounds in those old Flintstone's cartoons. Why did everyone have to have the same house huh? Would it kill someone to be a little creative? Oh wait, he had almost forgotten, creativity was dead. Suddenly, if only to tear the fellow teenager from his thoughts, Miles gave Sam's hand an extra harsh tug as he jumped over a cat. Said cat then proceeded to hiss, meow, and then run up a tree. Sam winced as his feet met the ground again. He prayed to God that the electrocution that happened the other day wouldn't happen again; especially with him in such close contact with Miles. Luckily, a distraction pulled Sam away from his musings, and the teenager quickly gave a sudden jerk when the tune of Ice-Ice Baby filled the air. Miles gave no indication that he noticed as the two drew nearer and nearer towards the inner guts of the city.

After a short struggle, Sam somehow managed to pull his phone out of his pants pocket, despite the fact that he was jogging, and hissed, "What!"

"Sam where are you!" came the voice of Ironhide over the receiver of his cell phone.

Sam pulled the phone back and gave the little electronic a raised eyebrow as if asking it a question. The phone gave no answer so the boy put it back to his ear and asked suspiciously, "How'd you get this number Ironhide?"

"Sam!" came another voice, which was talking rather quickly and in such a panic Sam was sure that he was listening to a Chipmunk song gone wrong. "Where are you!" The voice whined before suddenly turning direction and fading slightly, "I leave him alone with you for one day Ironhide, one day!" A metallic slap filled the speaker as well as some incoherent grumbling about 'Bee not disciplining his human to start with.

Sam blinked. He knew that voice. "Bee?"

"Yes. Who else?" The mech lowered his voice suddenly as if whispering, "You're not hiding from Ironhide are you, because if you are you don't have to tell me where you're currently hiding." Another metallic twang quickly followed, which couldn't be mistaken for anything other than Ironhide slapping the smaller bot in the back of the head.

"No, I'm just being kidnapped," said Sam in a casual way as Miles ran through the alleyway, pulling him along. Sam was still surprised by how strong Miles was. If it were him, he'd be tired by now.

"WHAT!" came another cry over the speakers. There was then a mixed jumble of 'no, I killed my human' as well as something about asking Optimus to take someone's cannons off line, which was then followed by yet another twang.

The teenager winced at the sound. If this kept up, there'd be no more 'Bee to return too, and probably no more Ironhide once Optimus found the Camaro's corpse. Sam looked at his friend in front of him and then sighed. He really didn't want to reveal the Autobot's to Miles when he was in such a frail state, but at this rate he was probably going to hurt himself.

Sam swallowed and whispered into the phone. "It's Miles … there's something wrong with his head and right now he's trying to take me to some witchdoctor to remove a tracker in my brain."

There was silence on the other line and Sam grunted as he was forced to jump a wooden fence in order to outrun a German Sheppard. The human sighed knowing all too well that the two mechs, on the line, were presently talking over their com-links, trying to decide if this was a human joke or not. Sadly, despite the time the Autobots had spent on Earth already, it was still easy to stump them with a little sarcasm or a lame joke. "You can laugh or believe me anytime guys, but I don't think my ass can take another rose bush."

There was another moment of silence before a growl came from Ironhide, which was quickly followed by Bumblebee, his voice carrying a commanding tone, "Sam, I think Miles is the least of our problems right now. Ironhide just picked up a Decepticon signal in the area."

"What!" cried Sam nearly plowing into a parking meter as the two of them took their chase down the backstreets of town. "You have got to be kidding me. W-what do I do? I just can't leave Miles like this, and there's no way he's going to get into one of you. He thinks –"

"Owwf!"

A breath of air escaped the teenager as he ran into Miles's back. Sam was about to grumble a complaint, but went silent as his pal grabbed his cell phone, flinging it into a pile of scrap metal. Apparently, Miles had decided to make their pit stop near a private junk yard.

A small squeak of disapproval escaped the brunet teenager as he started at the pile of mangled metal where his cell phone had taken up its new resting place. "What the hell Miles! That was my cell phone!"

Miles wrangled in a few more exhausted breaths before he spoke, his voice dripping with a tint of venom which Sam had never heard before. "You were just talking to one of _them_ weren't you?"

"One of what?!" cried Sam as he listened to his phone start to ring from the pile of rubble. His heart had started to panic as if on fire. He could feel every nerve start to sting with the need to run. He needed to get out of here and now or end up under a Decepticon foot. Yet, with Miles's current paranoia, that wasn't going to happen, but he couldn't just leave his pal here … could he? Sam dwelled on this for a quick second before the answer arrived. There was no way he was going to get his old bud mixed up with Decepticons when he was so distraught. Besides, it wasn't necessary to be putting him in any such danger. The 'Con's knew all about him, but Sam was rather certain that they had no idea about Miles.

"Our new metallic drug dealer overlords!" cried Miles as he grabbed for Sam's arm so he could start dragging him away again. "I know you are not doing this on purpose Sam, it's the brain implant. Now, we must keep moving before-"

It was now or never. The Decepticon could be anywhere and he wouldn't let what happened to Mikaela happen to Miles. It was sure luck that his girlfriend survived. So, Sam pushed the other away earning an 'ooof' noise from Miles as he fell face first into the dirt. Sam swallowed his soul for a moment as he resisted the urge to help Miles to his feet. This had to be done. This was for Miles's own protection, and it was far time that his bud stopped playing this stupid games. They weren't kids anymore! There was a war going on in their backyard after all. "Miles, enough!"

Coughing escaped the fallen friend as he slowly pulled his face out of the dirt and sat on his bum, arms behind his back. Miles wiped some dust off his face and opened his eyes. He was so filthy, in fact, that when he opened his eyes, he had the look of a raccoon. "What the hell was that for man?"

Sam swallowed the sick feeling that was coming up his throat and dragged out his next acted part in an irritated voice. "Why … why!? I'll tell you why Miles. This isn't the time for games! There are bigger things at stake here!"

The blond gapped at his old pal for a moment as if he had just grown a second head. Had Sam just yelled at him? Really, not like minor argument, yelled at him? True, the two of them had had their scuffs, but the rage was always half dead; this rage seemed to be full blown and baring its fangs. "O-of course it's not a game. The drug dealers are going to-"

"Stop playing Miles!" hissed Sam as he felt the panic run through his veins. He had to get out of here and make sure Bumblebee was okay, but Miles was … being-being –

The brunet tightened all of a sudden when he heard an engine roar in the distance. Sam's head snapped towards the main drag and he could have sworn he saw a flash of black. The human swallowed. He had to get rid of Miles now! "Grow up already! I'm sick of you and your games!"

There was a dripping silence for a moment and Sam regretted what he has just said as his old bud's worried expression became one of stillness, lacking all emotion. Slowly, as if a mountain was rising to its feet, Miles stood up, his hair hiding his face. A wind quickly followed, blowing dust over the metallic graveyard as if they were in an old western film.

"Is that what you think of me Sam?" came Miles's voice slowly, in a cold dragging tone. "I'm nothing more than a child?"

Sam regretted his words at once. Maybe he should have come up with another way to get rid of Miles. Something about seeing a Yeti would have been sufficient. Miles would have chases the lie like a dog to a bone. "Mi-"

"Well, I think you're the child Sam," the blonde was smiling now. It was a fake smile, a serial killer smile, which quickly fell into a sneer of rage. "You're the child!" Sam jumped slightly at the other's roar of rage. "You are the child! As soon as you get a new toy, you forget about the old one … you abandon it!"

Sam had forgotten about the whole Decepticon threat by now. In fact, his shoe which had been dug into the ground so he could run away, was now facing Miles. "W-what? What are you talking about Miles? This has nothing to do with toys." Sam spoke softly as if trying to calm a dying soldier. Why had he chosen to snap? He knew that there was something wrong with Miles, from the usual wrong that is, and he still chose the decision to snap at him. "Miles you hit your head and don't understand just h-how worried I am at the moment. I-I'm sorry for snapping, but I need you to go home for now. Please go home … that's all I want you to do."

"Like I said," hissed the usual fun-loving being as he walked forward to properly glare at the other, "a toy. Sam ... I'm sick of being your toy. I am not an item that can be called upon when it's convenient to you! You know what Sam, "Sam cringed as his angry pal took another step forward; making Sam crossed his arms over his face because he was expecting a punch to the face, "I'm sick of being your toy. Now, go play with that fucking Mikaela and Camaro of yours! See if I care." And, if to only add the final blow, Miles's cold voice carried, "I don't want to speak to you again."

And then Miles walked passed him as if he was no longer there, a shadow in the wind perhaps.

After a moment of stillness, Sam lowered his arms. He then swallowed and slowly turned his head to look at his companion in order to see if that had really just happened. Miles was no longer there. In fact, the only truth that Miles had been there at all, were his shoeprints in the dusty ground. "M-miles?"

XXX

If there was a color for pain, Barricade was sure he had found it. In fact, it was like rust with a mix in of brown dirt. Ugh, he was in the pit wasn't he? Then there was this horrible scrapping noise of metal on metal. Oh wait, that was talking. He wasn't dead was he … damn.

With much difficulty, the Decepticon managed to turn on a few of his sensors. A painful lurch quickly followed after as his internal repairs kicked in. If he could have purged his tanks, he would have. After a moment or two of dizzying pain, Barricade could regain some control over his CPU. Where was he? What the Primus happened? There was a moment's delay as his processors lazily relayed his last few moments of consciousness to him. He had been speaking to Frenzy, and then the little glitch had lived up to his name … inside his chest. The mech cringed as a pain shot through his chassis. Yet, why the frack wasn't he dead? The little mech had ripped into him good. In fact, his internal clock was telling him that he had been out for a while, which was long enough that he should have bled out and deactivated. A sudden fear overcame the mech. There were only a few beings on the planet that would have the knowledge and capability to fix him. One of which was the Autobot's medic and he was blind at the moment! Oh Primus, those voices were from the Autobots right now weren't they? He was there captive … he-he-

Despite the fact that his circuitry was on fire, he had to move! Barricade forced a command to his systems telling them to move, to run, to anything. Red warnings flashed and the Decepticon bit back a scream of pain, making him hold back the next command. It was then that he felt a soft scraping of metal from inside his chassis. He suddenly tightened expecting the final blows to come from the dis-functioning being inside him. Instead, another soft touch came forth.

"B-B-Barricade?" came Frenzy's voice softly as another soft touch came forward. "Please respond, 'Cade."

The larger mech bite back another wave of pain, "Frenzy … why?"

There was a soft silence and he felt another calming touch. "I-I don't know Barr-rricade. In fact, I-I woke up to find my-myself nearly drowned in your f-fluids. I started repairs immediately … I didn't know that I-I was the one who did the d-damage until I hack into your memory banks." There was a moment of dragging silence. "I-I'm broken aren't I Barricade … I really did d-d-d-d-deactivate, didn't I?"

The larger mech was silent, feeling a slight calm set into his systems when it become apparent that he wasn't a captive of the Autobots and that Frenzy hadn't attacked him on purpose. Yet, despite the new calm and the wish to keep it that way, he would not lie to his smaller partner. "Yes, Frenzy. You're spark had been extinguished."

He felt a nervous twitch from the being inside him and Barricade tightened immediately, expecting another attack. The other being stilled for a moment to inform the other he was not fritzing, and then slowly started to pet Barricade's insides, trying to calm his larger partner. A soft clicking, as if a mother was trying to calm a child, soon followed as the touches continued. Barricade tried to give into the calm touches since he knew it was a necessity among symbiotic relationships like theirs, especially for Frenzy, for Barricade to remain calm with his internal partner. If Barricade's systems deemed Frenzy a threat, the connection between them would automatically be cut, starving the other or even going so far as to terminate the smaller being while he was still inside him. That was probably the reason that there weren't many symbiotic among the Decepticons … except Soundwave that is, who had been rather resistant at Megatron's order to give Frenzy to Barricade in the first place.

Only after a moment or two of soft petting and cooing, did Barricade's systems calm down. Once that happened Frenzy spoke, "C-can you open your chassis-sssss? I n-need to check your external d-damage."

Barricade was about to protest. He wasn't going to lose Frenzy again, but he stopped himself. He and Frenzy were as good as dead as if he wasn't able to function correctly. After a few backlashes of pain, the mech was finally able to open one of the openings to Frenzy's compartment, near the axel. The sound the crunched metal made when opened was not at all pleasant nor the ache afterwards, but the smaller mech quickly scampered out. Barricade was still blind so it put a slight chill through him when he felt metal fingers playing over his alt mode.

"How bad is it?" whispered 'Cade.

"What-t … did you get hit by an Optimus?" came Frenzy in a mocking tone.

"Slang'en glitch! Just fix it." barked Barricade, trying to keep the grin out of his voice; there was the Frenzy he had come to hate.

"All you do is b-b-bitch, b-bitch, bitch. First, I'll need to get a welder. Luck-yyy we're in a junk yard huh?" mocked the smaller being as he scampered off.

"WHAT!"

XXX

Frenzy found himself slightly engrossed with this "junkyard". It was as if he was walking among a thousand metallic corpses. Perhaps, after he fixed Barricade, he could convince the other to settle into such a dwelling; mostly because he knew that the Autobots wouldn't dare enter such a place, the over emotional pushovers. Yet, that was beside the point right now. Right now, he needed to find some tools. Barricade's front grill was a mess and his hood was a battle zone. Thankfully, the front axels had, for the most part, been spared from any major damage. The alignment might be slightly off after such an accident, but he'd still be able to move. Not outrun an Autobot, mind you, but at least he could move. Not that he wanted Barricade running. The enforcer's systems couldn't take any major stress right now. He knew this because, after fixing all the leaking pipes and soldering wires that he had destroyed, Frenzy managed to wiggle down to some lower areas to look for other damage. It was then that the little cassette noticed that the radiator had been trashed because of the accident … he didn't tell this to Barricade though. He knew that the enforcer would panic since such damage meant that he was practically a cripple right now. So, Frenzy needed to either repair the radiator to the extent of his capabilities or use an inadequate human piece and hope that Barricade's systems would accept it. Either way, he had to do it fast. He could smell Autobot on the air … literally.

The little Cassette tightened when his sensors caught the faint whiff and, despite his need to repair Barricade, it was best to know if the Autobots had found them or were just in the area. Slowly, the little mech made his way through the junkyard. Halting and listening carefully for a click of Cybertronian or for the roar of a non-human made engine. He twitched and nearly dived under what use to be a Rabbit, but halted when he heard an 'ooof'. Autobots didn't make that kind of sound.

It had taken some very light footed work and careful calculations of the humans' lines of sight, but Frenzy was able to crawl up close enough to the two flesh bags to realize why he had smelled Autobot on the air. His system automatically went into battle mode. It wasn't because he was afraid of said humans, it was because he so owed one of them an early death or at least a missing limb. Oh yes, he'd have Sam Witwitcky's left foot! Why a foot? He didn't even know. Yet, despite his want to attack the twitching human which he so wanted to take a saw to, it was the other filth covered human that caught his attention.

"Is that what you think of me Sam? I'm nothing more than a child?"

"Mi-"

"Well I think you're the child Sam. You're the child!"

The cassette tilted his head in question at this. Why was the filthy one smiling despite the way he had just been treated … was he damaged. Was he damaged like Frenzy was? Frenzy's optics dimmed for a moment as he idly listened to the two humans' conversation. After fixing 'Cade, he had checked his systems with every scan on his person and a few borrowed from his holder as well. Yet, he couldn't find what had made him go crazed like that. Yah, he had a whole bunch of chard circuits and some superficial damage, but nothing harmful enough that it would overtake his entire systems like that. The little mech shivered … he was a defect wasn't he? A Cybertronian that was beyond fixing, an error to his species. The cassette shivered … he'd be terminated immediately if he told a Decepticon medic … but would 'Cade do that same? The smaller mech shook off the question. He'd deal with that issue later, right now he had to observe these humans and see if they knew where the Autobots were.

"Like I said … toy. Sam, I'm sick of being your toy. I am not an item that can be called upon when it's convenient to you! You know what Sam … I'm sick of being your toy. Now, go play with that fucking Mikaela and Camaro of yours! See if I care. … … I don't want to speak to you again."

Then the blonde one left, leaving his counterpart shaking. For some reason Frenzy made double sure to remember that one. He might just be useful, because, after all, the enemy of thy enemy is thy friend. Not that Decepticon's had friends, but you get the pixilated picture.

XXX

Paw07: Well … that was fun. For those of you who don't already know, or don't read my author notes, I have a drawing **competition** going on. Read the authors not on the bottom of chapter 7 of "Promise not to Tell" if you're interested. If you don't read "Promise Not to Tell" then … that may be a slight problem. :P

Also, lol … did you guys see that I also used the word frack? You Battlestar fans out there know what I'm talking about. Huh … I wonder, what side the Cybertronians take if they were to meet up with the two warring groups since one side technically is robots … wait! Gah, plot bunny attack!


	5. Deals with the Devil

Chapter 5: Deals with the Devil

XXX

In times of loneliness and stillness, the only thing a person owns is their own thoughts. Yet, as thoughts may came, they can be positive or haunting considering the type of lives a being leads. Sadly, for Barricade, he never had a memory or even a thought that didn't center around his time on the battle field; it was as if he were born from the spilt mech fluid on the ground. So, he always made sure to keep moving so that his thoughts did not have time to capture his mind … a being can't run forever.

'Cade shivered as much as his still form would allow, memories crawling like insects into his main processor as he begged for someone, anyone, to come along and distract him from his memories. Sadly, something else did; ghosts. They seemed to be whispering like dying gods from all the iron around him in the junkyard. It was as if he was basically half buried in a graveyard, and he swore he could feel the fingers of all the mechs he had killed running their mangled hands down his frame in order to taunt him in his moment of blindness. Primus, he could swear that he heard them whispering as well. All those Autobots mocking him, a few Decepticons too, stating that soon he'd be visiting them, and that they'd be getting the revenge they had been wanting for the past millennium.

A screech echoed from the mech's vocal processor as he felt something tug at his hood with its cold-dead fingers. They had come for him, the ghosts of his past. They were going to break open his hood and rip out his innards, following off by crushing his casing and drowning his spark. The mech wasn't even allowed another screech of terror as his hood was pulled open, cold air biting at his engine. Then despite his security systems, something started to shimmy its way under his chassis. The struggle that Barricade had started quickly stopped. One wrong move and a piece of that corpse could get stuck in the small moving parts of his engine. This action alone nearly sent the blind mech's spark into a drowning panic.

Quickly, a soft hissing suddenly came from his hood, "'P-primus 'Cade, respirate. You're going to overheat-t or kill your sssspark shutting your engine down like that!"

It took a moment for the panic to escape his processors before the mech dared to speak, "Frenzy?"

"No, I-I'm Primus. Who do y-you think? Now, restart the basics of your e-e-engine so I can look for more damage," murmured the small mech as he started to tweek the inner workings of the larger being, a soft hum filling his adios and Barricade turned his basic systems back on. It wasn't the first time the cassette had crawled into him like this.

A nervous chuckle escaped the large mech as he slowly felt relief run through his pained systems as the cassette started to make needed repairs, "Ghosts, I thought you were ghosts that have come for revenge."

The small mech stalled for a moment, thinking of what the Saleen had just said, before working far more feverishly on the project before him while he softly whispered, "Ghosts are just things of nightmares."

"And what if your whole existence just seems to be one nightmare after the other, what then?"

Frenzy had nothing to say.

XXX

A soft ringing echoed through Miles's room. The teenager merely curled up tighter in the closet next to his leaning tower of Twinkies, which he had made last year with Sam when he had been grounded. A part of him wanted to crush the stupid thing of his younger days … but he couldn't find it in his heart. He just wanted to curl up in that closet and cry. And he had been on his way to it once he had snuck up stairs, too ashamed that his family might see the red puffiness to his eyes already, but then the ringing started. And it kept going, and going, and going.

Miles buried his head, his eyes already dripping a few warm tears that refused to be dammed. He felt sick to his stomach and every time that phone rang he was sure he was going to puke … but the silence in between the ringing had to be worse. Why wouldn't Sam just let him be? He kept calling over and over again. Yet, despite the irritating chime stabbing into his ear drums over and over again, Miles was to ashamed to even touch the phone. He was scum for saying that.

A sniff escaped the teenager as the ringing ended. When it didn't start again after five minutes, Miles dared to leave the shadow encased solitude of his closet. He stood there a moment in the dull lamp light of his cluttered room just staring at the phone with half-lidded eyes. He knew that if he picked up the phone it would say that he missed a message … missed Sam.

He missed Sam … he already missed Sam. He had always been somewhat of a loner except for a few online gamer pals and his family, he had no one else. Everyone had always thought him odd and unworthy of their attention being it was school bred for clicks. They were far too vein to risk someone making them look bad, despite the fact that he was a loyal and truly thoughtful friend.

Well, he had been loyal.

Another sniff escaped the human and he bit his lip, hoping the pain would drown out his sorrow. It did not. Soon warmth was streaming down his face like raindrops down a windowpane. Miles found himself tripping towards the bathroom. He had to wash away these horrid things … his shame.

For the next hour, Miles stood under the shower head, his gaze stuck on the brownish water pouring down the drain. He could only pray his emotions were falling down the drain as well. He knew boys weren't supposed to cry … and in the shower, no one could tell the difference.

XXX

Frenzy skittered across the lot, his form twitching whenever he'd still, his scanners tasting the surrounding area before he crawled back over to Barricade. Surprisingly, the repairs didn't take very long … there were lots of 'donations' lying about, but now that he was done with Barricades repairs, what now? The two mechs sat in the junkyard until the sun started to set, a few lone crickets coming out to sing their melody to the departing sun. So, now inside 'Cade's interior, where he'd do the least amount of damage if he 'malfunctioned' again, Frenzy started to whisper to his partner. He was almost afraid to raise his voice to high; one could taste Autobot in the air. They were as thirsty as bloodhounds it seemed.

"C-cade? Wh-what do we do now? Even if we did have some way off the planet, we both are too injured to do such a thing. We need to find a place to lay low-w. Here is p-probably not the bbbbbbbbb-est of places, considering that you fit in a little too well," murmured the smaller mech as he crawled unto the floor boards, spreading his fingers on the carpet. He could just barely feel the spark pulsing below. Man, he was starving, but it was best not to risk such a trivial thing right now.

A moment of silence drug itself out as the crickets were joined in by the whispers of some teenagers a few streets away. The stillness was enough to still Frenzy's very twitching as he waited for something to happen. Finally, Barricade spoke, chasing away the unknown, if only for a moment.

"I-I'm not sure. There was something I didn't tell you on the interstate … the Allspark was destroyed Frenzy," Barricade tried not to tighten as he felt the small 'Con twitch at the news. The enforcer wouldn't admit it, but he was still slightly afraid that his small companion would cut into him again, be it accidental or not.

Frenzy pretended not to notice, but he had felt Barricade tighten under him … their trust had been slaughtered by him. Hell, he didn't even trust himself anymore. He didn't know if he trusted himself enough to ever crawl back into 'Cade's chassis and feed. Maybe it would be best if he just starved … he was a defect now. A disgusting defect that didn't even deserve to be in the company of Junkyardians, "So … is the war ov-over or will Starscream find a-a way to continue it?"

"He will," added the cruiser sullenly, "it is in Starscream's nature, and it will guarantee him his thrown to continue the war. He will probably try to find femmes in order to use them as a type of replacement Allspark. Not that anyone has seen one since the end of the gladiators' age. If they existed at all, that is."

The little being twitched inside him, clawed fingers digging so harshly that he scraped the metal below the carpeting, "Barricade … we can't let that happen."

Barricade once again struggled not to twitch as he felt Frenzy move. Not till the small being had stilled, did he speak, a dark laugh on his lips, "Is there something you are not telling me? I never noticed … you've never moved out of your training bra stage."

A growl escaped the smaller mech as he slapped Barricade's dashboard, the cruiser's entire alt form shivering as his laughter grew louder. It had always been a curious part of the femme legend that they all apparently adored their chests with a bosom. In fact, Barricade had actually snickered to himself when he found out that the human race had two sexes and, apparently, the female population had breasts. If the human race was a little older, he would have concluded that the whole stupid legend of femmes had come from the planet Earth as an explorer's exaggeration.

"It's not me," growled the cassette … his form soon slumping in depression, showing no humor, "he'll go after Soundwave when he gets tired of looking for femmes."

Barricade was silent for a moment, his spark trembling at the other being's name. Soundwave was a 'Con to be feared. Hell, Optimus didn't even mess with the fragger … maybe because it was rumored that he could read mechs' minds and that he had 'created' his children, not the Allspark. Barricade didn't know if the mind reading part was true, mind you, but the day he was too take Frenzy, as Megatron command, something happened that he never forgot. Something that made him fear and hate the 'Con in question forever.

_Barricade's feet echoed with the chill of death as he walked down the metallic halls of the Nemesis. He didn't want this! He didn't want to have one of Soundwave's drones crawling around in his chassis like some kind of parasite. Yah … parasite, that was the perfect word, not symbiotic. Apparently the little slagger was supposed to feed off his systems much like they did from their creator or like Barricade and his drone. A cringe dragged over his body at the thought as he neared the other's door. He stood there a moment, his fingers twitching as he dared to rap on the door. Of course, as his fingers neared the door because the door suddenly whooshed open, a glowing visor bathing the shorter Decepticon in a weary light. _

_He couldn't help it … he choked as that light fell over him. Barricade couldn't move, it was as if those optics behind that visor were boring into his very mind, littering it with whispers and poking fingers of smoke. Yet, as soon as the whispers were born, they seemed to drown. _

"_Designation: Barricade, enter," commanded the blue 'Con in a cold manner as he stepped to the side. Barricade's shoulder's stiffened at the thought of having his back revealed to the high officer, but he tried to ignore the feeling as he stepped into the room. His feet only stopped once he was in the center of the room. The high officer had a singled berth in the dully lighted room, a few tools aligning the wall, a computer consul, and small collection of odd alien items that didn't seem to belong with the rest of the room. Those items probably belonged to the parasites. Speaking of parasites … _

_Barricade turned around, his back going ridged as he listened to the door lock. He wasn't going to jump to conclusions though … after all, it was a command for him to take the parasite so it would be unwise for the blue 'Con to attack him. Either way, he was going to get out of here as soon as possible. _

"_Alright," murmured the mech in distaste, "where is the par-cassette?"_

_Soundwave said nothing. He merely walked up to the smaller 'Con and stared down at him, before he made a quick one around as if checking out a pure bred poodle at a dog show. Then, without warning, the cruiser found himself on his back, the larger mech's fingers suddenly probing under his chest armor, looking for the switch which would open his chassis and reveal his spark. The smaller 'Con quickly found himself panicking as he brought up an arm, ready to slam the other off with a fist to the visor, but he quickly found his arm pinned by Soundwave's free hand while a foot came down on his other arm. This effectively pinned Barricade and soon a click filled the room along with a soft blue-ish light. The enforcer's vocalizer squealed as he struggled fruitlessly, thinking that Soundwave was either going to rape him, kill him, or both. In fact, he almost cried out in horror as the Communication Officer's hand dipped in his chest, fingers feeling around his innards, checking the pump and other basic structures before his fingers finally graced the spark chamber. A scream of shock and pleasure escaped the 'Con as Soundwave felt up his chamber before he quickly let him go, standing up. _

_The smaller 'Con couldn't help it as he protectively place a hand over his open chest, sliding on his aft as far as he could away from the Communication's Officer. True, he had had many a lovers, but none of them had ever seen his spark for that matter touched it. In fact, no one ever had, except a medic or two._

"_Physical structure: form small yet durable, pump resilient, spark healthy and undamaged. Assessment: host is acceptable to receive cassette. Action: get on the table to receive proper upgrades," stated the 'Con as he head over to the berth, pulling some medical tools out of a subspace compartment on the wall, readying himself for the next step in the process. Soon, the Communications Officer was done laying out all his tools near a table by the berth and turned to look at Barricade. The cruiser was still on the floor, hand protectively over his open chest._

"_Recommendation: get on the table now or you shall not be receiving pain killers during the operation."_

_A growl crawled through the room as the cruiser stood, closing his chest and taking a defensive stance, "I came for a cassette … not to be dissected you fraggar. Now give me the drone and let me leave, because I know for a fact that I don't need an operation to accept a drone."_

_Soundwave's fingers suddenly went deathly still at the word 'drone' and he turned around to glare at the other, "Table, now."_

"_No," growled the enforcer coldly as he pulled out his blades, letting the other know that he wasn't in the mood for anybodies crap._

_For a moment, the world was still as the blue visor stared into him, "Fact: it is unwise to threaten a higher officer."_

_Of course, Barricade had quickly wished he listened. It had been a short brawl, embarrassingly short, which also cost him an optic and a quick strap down to the berth. He had one stroke of luck at least; the screaming didn't last long before he passed out with the sound of cracking metal from in his chassis lubing him to sleep. _

_When the world finally decided to re-awaken him, he'd wished it hadn't. His chest was alight with a dull throbbing and his systems assaulted him unceremoniously with error alerts for unknown equipment along with download programs. Well, at least he had all four of his optics back, even though he wished that he couldn't see … the dull lights were cruel to his aching CPU. It felt as if someone had been fishing around in his head for a few days. He had one struck of luck at least, he wasn't strapped down so he could moan in agony properly._

_So, after a few gruesomely pathetic sounds escaping from his vocalizer and his overall boredom of just staring at the ceiling panels, Barricade made a move to sit up to see where he was. He had no idea where he was._

"_Action," Barricade nearly whimpered at the voice, "unwise. It is best to remain still until proper directions on your new equipment have been downloaded."_

_Sometimes Barricade wondered why he never listened to directions … it usually ended with him being in a lot of pain. In fact, for the next five minutes, unknown gears grinded against known ones as he thrashed on Soundwave's berth with waves of pain jumping over his body like electricity. Soundwave made no attempt to stop his thrashing, yet the newly appeared cassettes took this opportunity to introduce themselves as they mocked his agony from the sidelines, using the counsel's ledge as if it were a theater chair._

_Finally, after his little lesson, Barricade was still enough to be envied by the dead, even though he wanted to reach a hand up and crush the irritating little cassette that was on now his chest. He could only pray to Primus that this 'Rumble' wasn't his cassette. He'd even take the cat one over this irritating slaggar._

"_I don't know Soundwave," murmured Rumble as he plopped down on Barricade's chest as if he were a bean chair, "he's kind of scrawny. You sure it won't get to cramp in there."_

_Soundwave was still typing on consul, paying little attention to his temporary guest and what his children were doing to him. Rumble merely pouted at his creator's disregard of his question, so he rapped on Barricade's chassis as if it were a door, "Yo, bro! Is it cramped in there or do yah want a house warmin' gift?"_

_It was amongst one of the most frightening things Barricade had ever recalled when he felt something rap from the INSIDE of his chest. There was something alive, inside him! T-this was wrong! Cassettes supposed to be little more than drones, like Blackout's little monster, but with more intelligence. They'd feed off your energy cord and were practically your obedient pets. They did not rest inside you! He had to get it out! He had to get it out, now!_

_Despite the pain that had assaulted him not ten minutes ago, he was moving again, furiously clawing at his chest as he felt something twitch within him. Of course, this time, Soundwave stopped him, pinning Barricade to the berth like a naughty child as he thrashed._

"_Suggestion: don't do that. I could care less about you, but Frenzy needs to integrate with your systems before I allow you to leave," came the almost emotionless voice, the black 'Con finally giving up when the agony was too much. So, he slumped, his vents gasping as Soundwave's hands released him and slowly moved behind his neck, a click filling his head as his data importer was revealed to cool blue fingers. Everything was cold about Soundwave and he had done everything in his power to ignore the larger mech thereafter, going so far as to allow Frenzy to continue to exist in his system after the mission had been completed. _

_The thing that he feared the most was ironically the creator of the thing he cared for the most. Too bad Decepticon's weren't allowed to feel._

Frenzy pulled himself up from the floorboards, sitting in the passenger's seat, twiddling his thumbs in a very human manner, "I-I know you don't think much-h of Soundwave, but he's my creator. He split his very s-spark to create me and m-my siblings," he felt Barricade tense at the truth, but continued, "and unless Star-slagger mysteriously finds a-another Allspark or o-one of those mythical f-femmes from the m-myths, Soundwave's as good as a g-guinea pig or so-some kind of breeding whore."

Barricade was silent as he thought over the pleas of his cassette. He did treasure his partner, but he didn't think the same of his creator. He … ignored … Soundwave, even though the mech had told him that he should come to see him and have his symbiotic systems checked every five metacycles and making sure that Barricade knew Frenzy wasn't a drone. It had been degrading, but Barricade actually begged Megatron for battle on the front line just to ignore coming back on the ship. After a few battles of success, he earned some rank and forever kept his distance from the Third in Command. No one ever questioned if Frenzy was a drone or not, Barricade always did the little 'Con's repairs. If anyone else had, they would have noted that drones don't have sparks.

"Barricade … please?"

A sigh escaped the larger mech, "I have an idea, but your revival was anything but normal. I think Ladies-man might have the answer we are looking for."

Frenzy perked up, his aching chest forgotten as he fingers tapped on the dashboard in his usual excitement, "Th-then what are w-we waiting for! Get g-going!"

Another soft sigh escaped the dented police cruiser as he twitched his tires, "Slight problem there my twitching parasite … he is practically a pet to the Autobots, and it will be no easy task getting to him … at least not in time to save Soundwave and certainly not in my conditions."

The smaller mech pulled back, his fingers twitching as he struggled to think of what to do. True, even if he did followed Ladies-man's trail from his last destination near the junkyard, there'd be no getting near him. What they needed was a saboteur. Frenzy's optics brightened and he slapped the dashboard, making Barricade tighten. The cassette quickly wilted and pulled his hands away in an ashamed manner. He knew that he had just scared Barricade. In the past, he might have lavished in such a thing, but if the connection was ruined now, he'd starve with no energon or Soundwave anywhere nearby, "S-Sorry 'Cade, but I thi-think I f-found our connection. Re-remember the human juvenile-le that was spying at the place where … y-you buried me?"

Barricade tensed. Little fraggar, it was as surprise he wasn't gloating with pride to know how much the enforcer valued him. He'd step on him. He really would, "Yah."

"H-he was near the j-junkyarddd … with Ladies-man. Apparently, the two are companions of some sort and their friendship has gone sssssssssssssour."

A cackle almost escaped the larger mech as his mind followed where his smaller companion was going, "That could be used to our advantage, couldn't it?"

Frenzy squealed with joy and clapped his hands like a happy child, "G-great … because I was j-just thinking of how you-your 'impersonation act' of local law enforcement could be used to our advantage. Hum-humans are such g-gullible creatures."

XXX

Sam stared at the phone in his hand, noting how warm it felt against the bandaged on his hands. He and Miles had had fights before, everyone does, but Sam had been calling for the past two hours and his old pal still had yet to answer or even hang up on him .With a sigh, he gave the cell phone in his hand a pouting look as if it were the tools fault that he was having pal issues right now.

"Sam," came the soft metallic voice from above his head.

The human looked up to properly stare Bumblebee in the optic, "Yah? What's up 'Bee?"

The mech looked around as if something was about to pop over the horizon, "We haven't found anything yet, so for your safety we are going to leave you with Ratchet till we find out where the 'Con went."

Sam tightened at the name of the medic. Now, it wasn't that he didn't like the medic. It was just that the CMO had a tendency to scan people without their permission. Now, giant walking computers, and especially doctor ones, weren't stupid. Sam just hoped his 'curse' didn't happen again … who would he hurt next time? Ratchet, Ironhide, Optimus … Mikaela, Miles? Perhaps Miles was just his first lesson of what was to come.

With a growl of hatred, Sam pulled his hand into a fist, irritating the Allspark wounds, but he'd fight first before giving into "this". He respected the Autobots, but this energy was most defiantly something that had to do with the Allspark, be it just excess energy from the Allspark's destruction or something else. Either way, he'd be taken away from Earth and probably never see his home or family again. Sam was in no way a NASA employee, but he knew what seemed like a short trip to the Autobots was probably his entire lifetime.

It might have been greedy of him, but he wanted to live. He wanted to hear his mother's voice in the morning with her pancake song, smell the slight tint of engine grease on his father after he was done playing with his car, touch Mikaela's hair against the nape of his neck as she leaned against him, and laugh until he cried at one of Miles's stupid jokes. Was it wrong to want those things?

Perhaps, if he just waited long enough, it would all go away.

XXX

Paw07: Hey, guys! **Just wanted to throw a request to you**. Apparently, the administrators have put up a new section for the TF movie. Personally, this is not only irritating but irresponsible. What about all the fics from two years ago that writers have finished and forgotten? They aren't going to be moved to the movie section, and what of all the fics that transverse into the G1 series by taking characters like Prowl or the twins; they won't have character bars in the other section, yet every character (from all series, trust me, I sent the list) are in the cartoon category already. Furthermore, I sent a note to the administrators requesting, instead of ripping the transformers genre apart, that they should make a world tab. That way the series is kept together properly yet can be separate if readers want it to be. So, if enough people to put in the same request, we might be able to keep the genre together. Cause lord knows I can't move (and wouldn't) since all my fics borrow G1 characters. Please let me know if any of you do email the administrators so I can personally thank you. : )

Also, apologies for any spelling errors; I was in a hurry with this chapter and had to hurry up and get to class.


	6. A Volunteer

Chapter 6: A Volunteer

XXX

Miles wasn't sure how he had gotten to this point in his life. Hell, he wasn't sure about a lot of things. He didn't know if he was Republican or Democrat. He didn't know what he was going to do when he got out of high school. He didn't know what love for a significant other was; he had never felt it. Miles had no idea what he wanted. He always considered himself a more here and now kind of spirit; happy to have a good life at the moment. Sometimes, he silently prayed for someone, something, to give him a little shove in the right direction.

So it was easy to say that he wasn't deeply content. Miles was the type of soul whose happiness was reflected from the ones around him. The teen sniffed and pressed his forehead against the tiles of the shower wall. Hell, he didn't even want to think of classes tomorrow? Well, it was Friday so he could always play hooky in order to be away from Sam and his perfect girlfriend for a few extra days, but Monday would come, nonetheless. The world never stopped turning, no matter how badly you wanted it too.

The teenager sighed. He didn't need to think about that right now. His mind was overloading the way it was. There were the robot drug lords, the spying robot, and to top off all the weirdness, he was having issues with his best pal which was involved with all of it somehow. Ugh, could this get anymore twisted? Maybe he should invite Steven King over for the weekend?

A scratching noise soon filled the room, distracting the boy from his shower soul searching. Miles opened his eyes and wiped his bangs out of his face as he turned his head towards the shower curtain. He wasn't really sure what the sound had been with the hum of running water deafening everything, but it sounded like metal on tiles … or bats. Bats were cool, don't get him wrong, but he didn't want to be sharing a bathroom with one. Soon, the fall of water was silenced, and the human found his fingers moving to the shower curtain in order to peek around and see where the sound was coming from. Yet, before his fingers could even touch the plastic, something else whipped the curtain open.

With a squeak, Miles stood there and stared at the collection of standing metal before him, limbs and head included. For a deafening moment, the two just stared at each other, panic slowly encroaching into the human's mind. So it was no surprise that when the metallic being reached forward with its spindly fingers, the human automatically cringed backwards. This, of course, caused him to slip in the wet shower, his hands struggling to grab at anything as he fell; then, with a shivering anticipation, there was a dull crack as Miles hit his head.

Frenzy stood there staring at the naked human that was now unconscious at the shower's basin. Well, that had been easier than expected. The only thing left now what how 'Cade was expecting him to drag the squishy out of the dwelling unit in his damaged condition? He couldn't even keep LadiesMan still. Despite that, Frenzy couldn't help but groan in sad acceptance. He'd just have to drag the slagger. So, with that thought, he ripped down the shower curtain, little metal tinkling clicking softly on the floor.

XXX

Barricade sat in the shadows offered by the trees above. Right now he was in the backyard of some human's house. Luckily for him, the man was gone for a month on vacation; or that was at least what his airline tickets were saying. Actually, it was really lucky for Barricade. He would admit that the mud ball had its charms. He liked the feel of a warm wind over his form as he drove down the road, and strangely, the feeling of soft rain pelting against his metallic body which nearly overloading his relays with its hundreds of feather touches. Yet, one of the best feelings had to be the grass beneath his tires. Primus, grass was wonderful.

The 'Con's engine sighed, and he sagged on his tires like a content woman to a tub. The only thing that could make this better was if the barking mutt a yard down would shut the frag up, and he could be at peace. Perhaps, after the humans went to sleep, they might just wake to find that their mutt had … run away. The large mech chuckled darkly at the thought. Yes, that would be a wonderful way to waste his spare time tonight, but right now he'd enjoy his rare sense of peace.

"Barricade! I got h-him!"

Peace gone. Barricade's sensors couldn't help whine as they picked up the cassette's location. The little 'Con was soon trying to peak over the seven-foot high brick fence to the west, his little red eyes displaced amongst the shrubbery that grew upon the fence's walls like a parasite.

"You do realize I'm not moving to help you over the fence, right?" grumbled Barricade, unwilling to leave his wonderful grass behind.

Frenzy glared at Barricade for a moment, he was about to snap for the slagger to come help him get the squishy over the fence, but his partner seemed relaxed. Generally, as patrons of war, things like relaxation did not happen. Half of him didn't want to make Barricade move, even though he did need the help; especially after the horrible pain the larger being had suffered due to his actions. He probably could find a shorter fence to drag the unconscious pawn over anyway.

Yet, before the cassette could even start to scan the area for a new track to take, a shadow fell over him. Blue optics met red for a still moment before Barricade's engine rumbled as he put his hands on his hips, looking slightly peeved.

"You could have told me you had the fleshy," said Barricade as he reached down carefully, his fingers reaching around the still form of Miles, slowly pulling the teen up as if her were a limp rag doll. Surprised by the softness of the being in his hand, the mech almost dropped the human, not expecting something so … warm and fragile.

"C-careful, the human is slippery," coughed Frenzy before he suddenly latched onto that same arm like a monkey, being pulled over the fence along with the human. Generally, Frenzy would just climb over the fence with the usual energy of his personal, but he was feeling a little weak after dragging the human the whole way. He had no idea why he had been exhausted so easily, but mentioning it to Barricade would only worry his partner. It was probably something to do with his 'defect'. He had to keep this new development to himself.

"I could tell," grumbled the mech as he picked up the soon to be pawn, placing him on the grass like a fish which was soon to be gutted. "What'd you do to him, anyway? I wanted to have this done before this side of the planet realigns with the sun."

In truth, it wasn't just the sun's alignment; he also wanted to be done quickly. He could easily tell that Frenzy was exhausted. It was probably because his systems hadn't allowed the small cassette recharge since he had tore up his insides. Barricade knew the small mech hadn't asked to be allowed back in because he knew the enforcer's systems were being very weary. That was no excuse of the small mech to go into stasis lock though. He'd force his little companion into the recharge chamber if he had to turn off half of his warning systems to do so. He couldn't lose Frenzy.

The first thing that Miles noticed was the cold and rather breezy feeling. He groaned and rolled over. It was then that he noticed that something was wrong. He was wrapped in plastic. The boy's eyes opened wide as he stared at the plastic fish painting which usually stared at him only when he was in his shower. Oh god. It was then that all his memories came rushing to him like a breeze off the ocean. He was in the shower … and then there was the robot. The robot had tried to kill him and had seemingly wrapped him in plastic thinking he was dead. The machine was probably out there digging a hole to bury him in right now. Holy terminator, what was he going to do? If he moved, the robot would probably see him and go after him, but if he stayed here he'd be buried alive. Possible death by evil, drug dealing, mini robot or promised death by burial alive?

Well, he'd take door number two thank you, very much.

Before Mile's could even properly look around, after throwing off the plastic curtain, he was too his feet and streaking to the nearest fence. But, before he could even touch his destination, a huge metallic leg suddenly stepped into his bee line and Miles found himself on his ass. The boy sat there a moment in the wet grass, moonlight falling in through the trees revealing the true fear the boy was in along with some unmentionables. His eyes were wide, chest rising rapidly, and his entire form was shivering as he looked up into the glowing red optics of Barricade.

"P-please don't bury me alive, giant-robot-drug-lord," said Miles in a shaky whisper. "I-I'll keep my mouth shut. I-I promise not to sq-squeal."

- Was that an insult – growled Barricade over the Com. link as he watched the human start to hyperventilate.

- What you taklin' about, Cade? – cackled Frenzy as he went over and started poking at the human. Miles merely squealed at the smaller mech and tried to crawl away.

- The drug lord thing. –

Frenzy stilled, a tired snicker pulling at his vocals. – 'Cade, I think we might have just figured out our bait. –

- What do you mean, bait? – grumbled Barricade as he put his foot between the cowering human and Frenzy's prodding.

XXX

For a moment, Miles sat there wrapped in his shower curtain for some modesty, no longer hyperventilating as he stared up at the huge robot and his partner. It had been … odd. Here he was, ready to accept his fate as a pet, slave, or some dead guy on the news, but the giant robot had offered something completely unexpected.

"So… let me get this straight," said Miles as he shifted his feet on the smooth grass, feeling the dampness between his toes. "You need my help."

"Affirmative, squishy," said Barricade in a small amount of shock, he still didn't believe that the human had believed Frenzy's story. Tuh, that taught the human's government. Hiding things like Aliens from the people was not always helpful; at least in the case of one Miles Lancaster.

"Kay," said the human, still trying to wrap his mind around the whole story that had just been told to him; running his tongue over his teeth, the human looked at the two begins again, watching how their armor reflected in the street lamps like some kind of grandeur knights. "So, just to make sure this isn't an awesome dream or anything. You two are robot cops from the planet Cybertron?"

Despite the need to laugh his aft or the want to empty one's tank at the very thought, both mech's nodded.

Miles nodded in acceptance, noticing how the smaller grey mech seemed to clutch to the other mech as if he were about to fall into some type of fit … maybe he was damaged?

"Alright and you guys have come here to stop the drug lords, aka the Autobots. And somewhere along the way, Sam got involved and is now part of the group under false pretenses that they aren't bad guys," said the boy in a tense voice, his vocal cords threatening to squeak.

"That is correct, human," said Barricade as his hand balled up into a fist. He was getting annoyed. The squishy liked repeating his questions. It was as if he didn't understand his native language. What was wrong with this one? Was it defective? Knowing his luck, Barricade wouldn't be surprised.

"And you want me to help you find out what they are up too. Like a new drug or something and why they need the help of humans for it?" asked Miles feeling his excitement start to peak and his fear start to diminish like fog to the morning sun. For some reason his mind kept playing the MacGyver theme song. T-this was the most amazing thing that had happened to him … well, and the Lord of the Rings.

"Yes, we believe it is surrounded around Ladies-I mean Samuel Witwicky. He may be in danger," said Barricade as he pulled in some of the cool evening air into his vents. "You may be in danger as well if the human finds out you are spying on him and the Autobots, but trust me when I say we wouldn't ask for your assistance if we could do this by ourselves."

Barricade continued to stand there, towering over the human like a titan, expecting the boy to wish them well and run for it. But, instead, a smile slowly crept onto the human's face. Then, in a frightening display of fan-boy-ism, the teenager jumped to his feet, curtain forgotten, as he cried, "This is so awesome! Yah, Sam being a victim thing kind of sucks, especially after I yelled at him just a few hours ago, bu-but real aliens which are robots. How cool is that? Can I touch you? So, do I get like a teleporting watch or maybe one of those communication watches that Johnny Quest had? Or, or maybe a hover board like from Back to the Future. How about like a cool space suit? Ugh, focus, Miles, focus!"

The mech wanted to take a step back as the human continued to ramble in a frightening manner. Never, in all his days, had he come across such … enthusiasm. Frenzy wasn't even this hyped when it came to spying on Autobots.

"So," yipped the human as he grinned up at the mech, curtain wrapped around his waist, "What are we going to do? Are we going to break into the house, all Rambo style, and save Sam's little ungrateful ass. The spying sounds like fun, don't get me wrong, but wouldn't it be smarter to save him first? I think he has a chip in his brain!"

Barricade was silent for a moment, his CPU trying to decide what to say, but his companion, shaking off his weakness piped up.

- Now the squishy's talking my language. Where's the war paint? – cackled Frenzy's Com. as his fingers twitching in eagerness. Then, with anticipation only a child could have, he leapt off Barricade's shoulder and started to head for the nearest wall. Yet, before the cassette could make his way over to leap the nearest fence, Barricade's large hand came down and grasped the smaller mech, pulling him towards his body. For a moment, Frenzy merely hung there in his hand, staring up at his partner in surprise.

"H-hey, l-let go," said Frenzy in shock as he tried to wiggle free, uncertain about his partner's actions. Barricade merely held firm, pulling the smaller mech even closer and manually opening his chest compartment, fighting back the fear his spark was whispering upwards to him.

"W-what the p-p-pit 'Cade? I'm not a s-sparkling," gripped Frenzy as his thrashing became more demanding, yet before he could really do anything more than scratch Barricade's paint job, the compartment closed with a click. A banging of metal following slowly after, but Barricade ignored it and the pleading communications Frenzy was trying to send as Barricade continued to look down at the wide-eyed human.

"That will not be happening, fleshling," said Barricade simply as he placed a hand over his chest, his optics dimming for a moment as the banging stopped with one final curse from the captive within, recharge chamber settings starting. "We are outnumbered, Frenzy is damaged, and I am still recovering from an injury as well. That's why we confronted you. You are close to Samuel Witwicky, are you not?"

"Yah," said Miles as he wilted slightly, worry starting to press down on his mind, the fun drained from the whole experience.

"Then it will be easy for you to get close to the boy without be suspected. Remember, we need to gather information before acting," said Barricade, a shiver running painfully through his body. Primus, this wasn't going to be pleasant.

Miles stared at the mech before him, noticing something was wrong almost immediately.

"Y-you, okay, Officer Barricade?" said Miles, his excitement slowly dripping away into nothing.

"N-n-not really. I need to rest. Go to you education facility this morning and spy on the Witwicky boy. See if he gives away any information," whimper Barricade as he got down on one knee, warnings slamming into his CPU like a hurricane. "I will contact you tomorrow. Now go."

Miles merely stared for a moment more as he watched the huge robot before him let a pained garbled scream escape him and then, as if magic, he started to shift. Before the human could even say 'dude' there was a police enforcer sitting before him in the faded lights. That alone was all the factual truth he needed to know that this space traveler was injured, outnumbered, a good guy, and in need of his help. It seemed that his shower prayers had been answered. In fact, his meaning seemed to have fallen from the heavens itself. Miles would help this stars-crossed hero save the world.

But for now, he had to leave the mech rest … and find a way across suburbia without anyone calling the cops about a half naked boy running across the lawn.

…

Barricade shivered on his tires as his system violently churned, demanding that he expel and attack the thing in his chest. It was dangerous, it was deadly, and it needed to be eradicated before it could do more damage. Yet, despite the pleas of his defense systems, Barricade just toughed out the pain as he allowed his symbiotic systems to connect with Frenzy, feeding the smaller mech. After all, he only had Frenzy. It was the only thing he had now days.

XXX

Paw07: A short chapter, but a plot mover. Hope you all enjoyed.


	7. Late Nights

Chapter 7: Blanket Hostage

XXX

Miles was, perhaps, having a tranquil night compared to Sam's. The blond was certainly happy despite the fact that he now thought his best friend was in league with giant, drug dealing, robots. Meanwhile, Sam's night wasn't going as well. He was this close to jumping out of a moving car. After the fight with Miles, Ironhide and Bumblebee had picked up the human, and he was hoping they had been joking about the Ratchet watching him part.

No. No, they had not been joking.

"I'm not going to be Ratchet-sat!" cried the boy as he pulled at the door, trying to escape. A part of him worried for a moment about touching his pal with his hands so shortly after Bumblebee had been repaired, but escape was the most immediate thing in his mind. He had escaped Ratchet's wandering optic once. He doubted he would a second time. He cared for the Autobots, but forgive him for being afraid and maybe a bit selfish that he didn't want to be replacement Allspark!

"Calm down, Sam. It's just Ratchet, not the Unmaker," came Ironhide who was driving behind of them like a third wheel.

"Tuh, please. Just Ratchet?" snickered the youngling as he tried to nudge the older mech by slowing down for a minute, making the older mech swerve slightly and yip as he slowed down to ignore an accident. "You act like he's the Unmaker every time you need a check up."

"I do not!" gripped the elder mech as they drew nearer to what looked like an old, abandoned, factory which seemed to be in the middle of nowhere, only having the grass for company. "Now stop scaring Sam and hurry up. We need to locate that Decepticon signal."

"Don't blow a gasket," said the youngling, knowing far too well that it was reaching that time of year again … maintenance. Ironhide, being the big sparkling he was, would always find a way to ignore Ratchet during this period. So Ratchet, getting irritated with the Weapon Specialist, had started jumping the old timer before mandatory maintenance; the CMO would set traps, physically tackle, enroll help, and a collection of other low down tactics in order to get the cannon bearer onto a berth for examination.

That's probably why Ironhide was hanging back slightly, scanning the ditches as if Ratchet was going to jump out of the brush like some kind of lion and take him down. That didn't seem to happen though. Soon enough a long whine escaped Sam's throat as they stalled in front of a military hanger with a collection of different equipment sitting outside. It wasn't a permanent base. They were planning on building a base called Autobot City, but a location large enough had not been decided on nor had enough mechs showed up yet. So, an old jet warehouse and been given to the mechs as a form of good will from the American Government … too bad they never bothered to clean it out before giving it up. Now it looked like a junkyard outside. Not that anyone really minded; it made blending in easier.

In fact, it was so easy to blend in with the surrounding vehicles and junk outside, that Ironhide hadn't noticed the green Search and Rescue vehicle parked next to an old tank. Ironhide only had time to transform, scratch his head in worry that Ratchet wasn't there before the medic suddenly jumped off a nearby semi trailer with a war cry. The Weapon Specialist wasn't even aloud a squeak of surprised before Ratchet jump on him, made him fall to the ground, and flashed him with an EMP wave.

Bumblebee hadn't even had time to completely break before he transformed, throwing Sam into the air, and start clapping. Sam, luckily, was use to Bumblebee ejecting him in such a manner and landed on his feet before he collapsed on his ass. He didn't mind though. For some reason he had a feeling that he wouldn't be receiving all of the medic's attention tonight. He really wasn't sure as to why the green mech had attacked Ironhide like that, but at the same time knowing these guys … he really shouldn't be surprised.

"What's going on?" asked Sam as he stood up, ready to brush the dirt off his butt, but instead the boy figured it would be safer to put his bandaged hands in his pants pockets before the CMO noticed.

"Mandatory examinations," said Bumblebee as he watched Ratchet lean down and throw one of Ironhide's arms over his shoulder so he could lug the being into the building. "Ironhide always put up a fight … so Ratchet started to put up a fight as well."

Sam nodded and before he could stop his mouth, he asked, "But … what about the Decepticon?"

Bumblebee snickered, "It was a lone one, probably Barricade and at worst Starscream. Optimus is meeting up with me to search. We would have just sent you with Ironhide, but then Ironhide would have been suspicions. Anyway, I got to go. Take a nap, talk to Ratchet, whatever you want. It should only take us a few hours to either find whoever it was or scare him off. Now head inside. You're temperature is a little low, Sam, and Ratchet would be upset if you got a cold while he was supposed to be watching you."

The human nodded, swallowed hard, and headed inside. He was met by what would be considered an amusing sight any other day of the week, but he was too shaken up. He knew Ratchet would just have to take one look at his hands to know that the Allspark had done something to him … and that would be the end of the story. Goodbye Earth.

"Sam," said Ratchet, looking up from his makeshift berth with an unconscious Ironhide being strapped to it. "You seem cold, but your heart beat is slightly erratic. Is something bothering you, Sam."

The medic looked at the human, red light of a scan crossing the floor and ready to shift over the human, but Sam took a nervous step backwards just out of reach.

"J-just nervous about a test I have tomorrow. I just want to go to bed. W-where can I hit the hay in this …. Um … base," said the human, swallowing a shaky breath as the medic gave him a weary look.

Nodding to his left, Ratchet directed one of his headlights towards what looked like a Government Issue bunk bed in the corner. Giving the healer one more drained look, Sam hopped over to it, threw off his shoes and climbed under the covers like a frightened child. He poked out his nose to make sure Ratchet was still torturing Ironhide before he took his aching hands out of his pockets, biting back a hiss. Slowly, he pulled his tender hands into his chest. He suddenly realized that maybe he was actually tired. Tonight had been horrible. He had gotten into that fight with his best pal, and now he was right under Ratchet's nose, one flicker of a scan could cause his end.

He trusted the Autobots with his life, but not necessarily with his choice. With that though, he fell into an uneasy sleep.

XXX

"Duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, dunaaaaaah!"

The theme music followed the greatly immature teenager down the street as he drove his Moped towards the school the next morning. He had remembered his helmet this morning, mostly because he didn't want to attract the attention of a certain drug-lord-helmet-Nazi. Yes, now he knew that it wasn't just a simple emergency-guy that had offered out a little good will. No, the emergency-vehicle guy so wanted his brains to be mush … just through a different means: through drugs. No, sir-e! Everyone and their dog probably thought Miles was as high as a kite with the way he walked around saying 'dude' and grinning like a Cheshire cat, but they would be wrong. The only thing he was high on was life … and collectibles. He didn't want to be that type of stereotypical skate-board dude.

There was suddenly a scream which dragged the windy teen from his inner musings, and he dodged just in time to not run into the practicing cheerleaders. What? Sometimes he liked to take a short-cut across the foot-ball field in the mornings. It wasn't like he was hoping one of the cheerleaders' short skirts would fly up or something … well, you would know if one did. Miles had a tendency to crash when distracted. You can bet your Yugio card collection that most of the grass squares that needed to be replaced by the gardener all had Miles indentations in them.

He couldn't doddle this morning though. He had one thing on his mind … saving his best pal, Sam. But first … he had to dodge that football flying right at his forehead!

…

Sam sighed, placing a book into his locker. He had been somewhat in a depressed mood since his fight with Miles and the drifting gaze of Ratchet last night wasn't helping his mood any. He knew he should be happy. After all, Bumblebee was back and better than ever, and he was still free to wander the earth. What more could a teenager ask for?

Maybe if Miles would have answered his phone. His oldest pal, carefree-forgive-everyone-Miles, was angry at him. Yah, he knew friends would get pissed at each other, but not Miles; Miles never got mad. Probably didn't even know the definition to the word. What was he going to do? He couldn't just blurt out the Autobots secret and make his old friend understand, could he?

The teenager glared at the innards of his locker for a second before slamming the door, only to draw back with a yelp, "Miles!"

Miles stood there, leaning against the neighboring locker as if he didn't have a care in the world; the blond even had his silly trademark grin on though it did seem a little bit forced.

"What's up?" said Miles as if nothing had happened the other night.

Sam, after trying to catch that lost heart beat he'd never get back, stated, "What do you mean, what's up? I thought you were mad at me! Now you're standing here like nothing happened."

Miles's grin faltered for a moment, but it quickly returned with a forced laugh, "Nah man, I got over it. I understand that you have your own life, and that you've been having a hard time lately. It happens to everyone, bro. Stress of school, girls, money … I totally get it … just don't do it again."

Something wasn't right here; Sam could feel it in the air like a shifting breeze. Still, at least Miles was talking to him. Maybe that was all his pal needed, some time to sleep on it. Not that it looked like he had gotten much sleep; he had these bags under his eyes like he had been restless.

"Well, I'm glad you're not mad at me. I'm sorry if I have been ignoring you, but you are right … I've just been going through some changes in my life, and they have been taking up my free time. My car is not a replacement friend … but you do have to share me," said Sam quickly as if he had been thinking over those words all night. Then, putting on a begging smile, Sam put out his bandaged hands as if to shake, "Still friends."

Miles nodded; half of him understood what those changes were. Drugs could ruin the best of friendships, he had seen it happen. So, for now, he would forgive Sam. Besides, if he didn't forgive him now, he could lose one of his truest pals forever. It was best to swallow one's pride.

"I told you already, everything is a-okay! Come on, let's head to homeroom," said Miles, offering his other hand out, but Sam suddenly drew that bandaged appendage back, a slight frightful look taking over his eyes.

Miles blinked at the reaction, not really understanding it, so he stated dumbly, "What's with the hand? I thought it was healing, but that's clearly new bandaging."

Sam resisted the urge to hide his hands behind his back. They were not getting better. In fact, they were getting worse. Just last night he woke up feeling pain surge thought his spine and settle in his hands. He woke up in time to see small, little, jolts jumping through his sheets like heavy static … only it was blue. He might have taken more time to observe the sparks if his gaze hadn't jumped to where he knew the two alien robots were before he fell asleep. He could only shake in relief as he stared at a still offline Ironhide and a recharging Search and Rescue vehicle over in a far off corner.

So the teen then spent the rest of the night in a ball, holding his hands against his belly as he stared in fright at the two sleeping mechs. He knew if he even dared touch the floor he'd send a shockwave out and perhaps doing something to the two unsuspecting mechs. And who knew what would happen if this energy was similar to the Allspark's energy like he thought it was; there'd probably be a toaster or some old military crap after his ass, and there was not an easy way to hide something like that.

"The burns got worse," said Sam, wincing as he quickly regretted his words. How does one's burn wounds get worse anyhow? By picking at them?

Miles frowned, but did not inquire any deeper into the subject. Instead, he offered his hand out, "Alright then. Here, give me your books."

Sam eyed him wearily, rubbing his shoulder, before he handed the heavy science book and planner to his old pal. Miles merely grinned and stated, "This is a onetime deal, dude. Unless we start dating, then I'll carry your books all the time."

Miles laughed as Sam's eyes got big, and then he ran down the corridors like an escaping convict. The Allspark-infused teenager stared for a second before he growled and started to chase after his pal, ready to beat his chum for such a comment in a crowded hall. Not that Miles minded. Who knew spy-work could be such fun and easy work. After all, he had just gotten his hands on Sam's planner. It had been ten minutes and he already had a clue to offer the alien-cop dude.

XXX

The day had carried on with Miles playing spy, asking carefully crafted questions as well as one simply lie that he must have lost the planner while running for his life. Sam had been upset about the planner, but seemed to have pushed it aside in order to ignore another fight. The end of the day came quickly enough anyway, and Sam found himself standing near the office, asking the lady behind the Lost and Found desk if she had his planner.

"It's a planner, one of those themed ones with a classic, blue, Mustang on the front," said the brunet with almost a whine in his voice. Miles merely stood behind his mate, clutching at his bag where the planner was presently located. He could only hope there were some important dates of notes in the small book.

"Sorry," replied the middle aged women with a Janice nametag. "I can't help you. There's no planner with that kind of picture on it in here."

Sam whined and stalked away, murmuring obstinacies under his breath. Miles followed after, swallowing, before answering in a squeaky, guilty, voice, "Don't worry, pal. I'm sure it'll show up. You probably just left it at home."

Sam glared at him, Miles put on the best fake smile he could. He fully intended for that statement to be true; he really did. Just as soon as he showed it to Barricade tonight and the cop got the info – if there was any – out of it.

"How can that be," said the other moodily as they continued forward towards the parking lot. "I thought you said you dropped it earlier?"

Oh yah … he forgot about that. Quickly thinking up an excuse, the blond shrugged his shoulders and replied, "I wasn't positive, dude. I just took the books you gave me. I don't even know if it was there to begin with."

A sigh escaped Sam. He knew he shouldn't have put such important things in his planner. Nothing really dangerous was in there, but there were some dates and vague notes that related to the Autobots. Not that anyone really knew about the Autobots anyway. Tuh, it wasn't like a 'Con was going to get a hold of it. Besides, he had to focus on Miles right now. He could tell his friend was faking half those grins. Anyone who really knew Miles would know that most of those smiles were forced. He must still be upset about the last night … which was understandable, that discussion in the junkyard had been … monstrous. Discussions like that killed friendships. It was going to be like walking on eggshells for a while. Luckily, Mikaela had brought her Moped today so Sam could drive his bro home. Maybe a few rounds of Halo or something of that nature would give Miles back a real smile. That was what Sam liked about the skater. He was always quick to be happy and never one to hold a long grudge.

Sam sighed and stuck his hands in his pocket, ignoring the burning feeling of his hand. He was rather careful about what he touched since waking up. After all, Bumblebee was back and there was no way he was electrocuting him again. Let's just say he was taking the saying _keep your hands to yourself_ literally. Speaking of which, if he was going to take Miles home he'd have to touch the steering wheel, which he hadn't done on the trip from the base to school. Hmmm, maybe …

"Come on Miles; let's get out of here and go to my house. We can eat Twinkies till we puke and play videogames till are eyes start to water. How does that sound?" said Sam as he started for the parking lot, dodging other people in the hall as he may.

Miles merely slunk after the other teenager, a silly grin on his face. He wasn't only smiling because he was going to get to hang out with his buddy, but because he was going to get to see the alien cop tonight. He knew the planner would be of some assistance, if only to keep track of Sam. Hopefully, the machine might even let him touch him … or even better, let Miles drive him. Maybe he could try to pick up some chicks.

That grin quickly disappeared though when they got out into the parking lot, heading for the Satan's Camaro. Shit. It was the yellow drug dealer. Miles had been thinking of old times when they'd walk home, pass the burger joint, and grab a snack. Holy Indiana Jones! He needed to think of something to …

"We taking your car, man?" said Miles with a nervous grin, stopping at the end the sidewalk a few yards from the yellow car. "I was hoping to take the old way home. You know walk pass Ron's Rough-Burgers, grab a soda?"

Sam stopped, a slight frown on his face. That might have sounded like fun if it didn't mean that he had to abandon one of his friends for the other. Bumblebee had been so happy to see him after being repaired. It wouldn't be fair to ditch him … maybe he should tell Miles about the Autobots. Yah that would fix _everything!_ Miles would love it too, geek-lord that he was. True, first he had to get Prime's okay, but that still didn't fix his current problem. He couldn't choose one pal over the other.

Shrugging, Sam started forward as if his mind wasn't bothered at the moment, "Well, that would be fine if I didn't bring my car, but I did. We can still go to the burger joint. In fact, I'll let you drive."

Fate was a bitch … oh yah, a real super one too. He always wanted to drive a ride of that caliber, but when he finally gets the chance it turns out it's an evil robot. Not cool man, not cool! Half of Miles wanted to cry right there and have the mother of all hissy-fits, but that would look suspicious and he had to remain undercover. Barricade was depending on him. Maybe he should play off the old excuse of _Miles is blonde and a terrible driver_. That was a way to get himself out of this.

"Um, sorry bro. I don't think your insurance covers secondary drivers so I'll just head home, but let's totally hang out tomorrow. You bring your other wheels, your roller blades, and we'll have a chat on the way back to your crib," said Miles with a fake grin, disappointment settling in his chest. "S-see you later."

Sam's mouth opened, words wanting to come forth, but before he could say a thing, Miles had pulled his skateboard out of his backpack and was rolling down the sidewalk. He stood there a minute, the same depression crawling in his chest that had been in there after the junkyard argument. Not that he really got to dwell on it when a horn blared at him. Sam blinked and looked at the yellow Camaro. Well, at least he didn't have to worry about having to touch and hurt his guardian. But he was going to dig out his roller blades … something was still wrong with Miles.

It was like he was hiding something.

"Don't worry, Sam," suddenly came the soft voice of Bumblebee. "At least he's talking to you now. Everything will be fine."

A soft tune quickly filled the speakers and Sam crawled in, careful not to touch the car in any way; he didn't even shut the door. Part of him wanted to believe his metallic friend, but with the sting in his hands growing more frequent. He didn't know if everything was going to be fine … or if he would even be able to call anyone a friend anymore. After all, if the Autobots found out about his Allspark impersonation he would be dragged away from all that was important to him.

That was not a chance he was willing to take. All he wanted was to be was normal.

XXX

Barricade's frame shivered, and he leaned against the cement wall, his hand coming up to his chest as if he were bracing for a heart attack. He had been doing this for a few hours now. The pains for accepting Frenzy into his chest had gotten so terrible that he actually broke into the garage of the yard he had passed out on. He had to get into his bipedal form so he could clutch at himself. Primus, his whole form was shaking now. Part of him wondered if this was how organic females felt when they were giving birth: their bodies trying to force something out of them in the most painful way possible. True, Frenzy's vitals were a little better and his energy was reaching acceptable levels, but he wasn't ready to be ejected. Barricade just just had to wait for night fall, and then the little fragger could run around dealing with the spy work for a few days while he rested.

The dim lights of a resting sun couldn't come fast enough, and Barricade finally allowed a pain whimper to escape him as he fell on all fours. He quickly threw out a signal that was meant to wake up symbiots and the little fragger didn't disappoint. Frenzy's systems answered back with a worried note. Barricade didn't reply; he merely opened the chamber and told the cassette to get out!

Frenzy tumbled out without a word, his form in attack mode because he clearly could tell that Barricade was distressed. But as he glared around at the darkened room and its collection of power tools, it quickly became apparent that there was no danger … except for the threat that Barricade might fall on him!

The small mech quickly drew backwards, a loud clank of metal falling on concrete filling his audios along with a pained whine. The cassette merely remained clinging to the garage door, a few feet off the floor, before his battle systems calmed down enough to realize that Barricade had just collapsed. A worried squeak escaping the small mech and he rushed forward almost tripping over himself. His little limbs went for the mech's head first, trying to get him to raise it.

"Cade, Cade. W-what's wrong? D-did the Auto-slaggers get yah? Where's the in-injury. Come on, sit up-up!" grunted the cassette as he struggled to get Barricade to acknowledge him.

For a few minutes, Barricade just laid there, his vents panting and his optics offline. During this time, the symbiot had jumped around and looked at the limbs he could for injuries. When it became apparent that there was no energon anywhere, Frenzy returned to the mech's head. The enforcer's internals were damaged or something, and Frenzy couldn't get a look inside his partner with him being on his belly. Sighing, Frenzy could merely sit next to the Saleen's face, petting the side of the black mech's helm.

It took about an hour for the larger mech to snap out of whatever he was in, and Frenzy was all over him before the mech could even online his optics.

"B-barricade! W-what happened? Y-you just pa-passed out! Are you in-injured? L-low on energy? Sp-speak to me, Cade?" demanded the grey mech as he all but pulled on Barricade's jaw in demand.

Barricade merely groaned, slowly pulling himself up with shivering limbs and ignoring the cassette's prodding. With a whine of his engines, he sat heavily against the wall again, his hand clutching at his chassis. Frenzy continued to prod, but when it became apparent that his larger partner was just going to continue to sit there clutching his chest as his vents struggled, Frenzy dropped down towards the clutching hand and tried to peer between the plating to see what was wrong.

"Cade … what's wrong?" growled the small Con as he gave up, unable to see anything unless his partner opened his chassis.

The enforcer breathed for a minute more and then looked down, stating, "I'm f-fine. Just some pain. I-I need to rest. Go f-find the human and stick with him for a while. See if he found any information on what the hu-human did."

Frenzy merely frowned, still watching Barricade gasp in pain. He quickly crawled up the larger form, his mind forgetting the mission with the Miles fleshy tonight as he started to pet the side of Barricade's helm once more. At first, the enforcer kept turning his head away, trying to make the cassette stop petting him and do his job. In the end, though, it was a fruitless effort and he just gave in, head titling into the soft touches for a few minutes. It felt nice.

Frenzy use to never do this, but the longer they were partners the more normal it was to have moments like these, especially when one of them was injured. Or sometimes Frenzy would even clean him with a small rag where he couldn't reach, or like right now, the cassette would pet the sensitive wires around his helm until he fell into a deep calm. Sometimes, Barricade would even allow the cassette to sleep with him outside of the cassette's chamber; where he's hold Frenzy like a sparkling against his chest, petting the chatter-box's back with his thumb. It was not a Decepticon thing to share such intimate benevolence, but that was probably why they only did such things when alone. Frenzy told him it was okay though; Soundwave himself did the same thing to the cassettes so Barricade gave into it easily.

It wasn't long before the cruiser's optics were on a soft dim, his pain a dull ache. He slowly turned his head to look at the cassette, speaking softly, "Thank you, Frenzy, but don't do that without scanning the area again. An Autobot could have been about."

Frenzy petted the thin metal by Barricade's jaw once more before stopping and stating, "S-sure thing. W-where do y-you need repairs, now?"

Barricade shook his head slightly, "Program errors, I did it to myself. I-I will be fine after a day of rest, but we need to concentrate on the Witwitcky boy. If he was the one to bring you back … why not Megatron?"

The cassette merely nodded wanting to comfort his companion a bit more, because he knew Barricade was still in agony, but he was right. Rest was the best. Sighing, he stated, "W-what do you want m-me to do, again?"

Barricade took a deep, pained breath, his vents hissing, "Go to the Miles-fleshling. Convince the human to set up Witwicky so h-he isn't near his guardian. That way you can scan the human without notice."

Frenzy merely nodded, petting the bigger mech below his audio before he jumped down, his little feet making almost a musical sound as he ran across the length of the garage before he was gone. Barricade remained still for a minute before a metallic whine-like scream escaped him, his back arching. Primus, his body was now trying to get rid of his systems for the symoitic programs all together because he had forced his systems to accept Frenzy. Now, not knowing what to do, his very body was trying to purge the chamber or at least the programs to use it. But he had to hold out. He would hold out.

XXX

Miles stared at the Star Wars poster above his bed. His eyes were getting tired, but he stayed awake. Officer Barricade had told him that he'd contact him after his first day of undercover Ops. It was nearing midnight and there was still not hair or hide of the dear intergalactic soldier for peace. He didn't have much to offer, but he did have something. The planner was the biggest thing he got. Most of it was things like, 'Helping out the 'A' team find a new crib.' To someone who knew nothing of what was happening, it would seem little more than rubbish. He knew better. 'A team' meant Autobots for one, and crib was probably a new base of operations so that they had a place to cook.

Poor Sam, it made this throat tighten at the very thought of knowing what his oldest friend had gotten involved in. He would save his pal as soon as the alien showed up.

"Where the hell is he? I have to hang out with Sam tomorrow, and I have no idea what kinds of questions they want me to ask, if any! Maybe, I just have to watch him. Ugh, maybe I wasn't cut out for this," grumbled the boy to himself as he stared at Princess Leia for a second. Part of him wondered if there was a Force out there … or at least hot Leia-like chicks. Maybe after all this was over and he had helped save the day, Barricade would return the favor. Maybe the alien would introduce him to an alien princess. Well, she didn't have to be exactly like the babe he was staring at, she could even be green as long as she didn't eat her mate after … a good time.

The teenager groaned and quickly covered his head in a pillow. What was he thinking? Was he really that desperate to get a girl that he was willing to take space chicks?

"A-are you committing s-suicide?"

The human yelped and sat up straight, his eyes wandering around a partially lit room. Someone had just said something … but there was nobody here. Pac Man, he was being haunted, wasn't he! He knew he shouldn't have ordered the shrunken head off line. It only spoke of bad things. It would have been cool a week ago to have an experience with the supernatural, but now he was having an experience with the extraterrestrial. The powers that would be were double teaming him!

"Dude, not fair! Not even Muller had these problems on the X-Files. Only one unknown at a time!" said the teenager to no one in particular.

"What are you b-babbling on about," said a metallic glint in the corner of Miles's eye. The teenager couldn't help but yelp as he turned towards his desk, his eyes now catching the cassette poking at his Star Trek bobble head collection that was in front of his now open. Poor Captain Kirk had seen better days … especially since he was now missing a head.

"D-dude," said Miles, calming down enough to remove his hand from his chest. "You killed Kirk. How could you?"

The alien gave the human an estranged look, but just summed it up to a fleshy reaction.

"How-ow did your f-first day of spying go, fleshling," said the little robot as it jumped off the desk, grabbed a ride on the ceiling fan, and landed on the bookcase across the room, books and many collectibles threatening to fall to the floor from the sudden jolt.

Miles merely cried out when he saw his 08 NASCAR steel-cast collectable fall towards the floor. He quickly made a jump off his bed just in time to capture it and his collection of Soul Eater comics. Frenzy made no note of the human's desperate jump, his attention on the shiny collectibles and trinkets that littered the shelves. The cassette would merely pick up one ornament, eyeball it, lose interest and throw it at the floor. Miles merely remained on the floor, trying to capture his treasures before they were smashed to irreplaceable bits.

"Come on man! Some of these things will be worth a lot of money in a few years. Don't touch that Mach 5," cried the human as he eyed the white toy, managing to capture his replica of the General Lee at the same time.

Frenzy just continued to ignore the human, throwing a collectable ninja-throwing-star at the human's head, gaining a yip as Miles moved just in time to watch the star vibrate as it implanted itself in the floor. Luckily, Frenzy's movements finally did stop when he saw something he liked, "Oooh."

Miles finally sighed, sitting up and eyeing the small, living, machine. He hadn't gotten a very good look at the little alien last night, but now that he did … he could see little shifting gears and tiny bits moving and twitching like metallic heart beat. Did these robots even have hearts? Miles continued to stare in wonder, trying to not note the fact that the twitchy being was playing with his Bat-mobile.

"S-so, where's Barricade?" asked Miles nervously as he crawled to the edge of his bed, peaking over the edge like a spy.

Frenzy stopped playing with the toy within a twitch's time, dropping it into the sheets below. For a second the small mech was still, his optics roaming the human. It was not a Decepticon characteristic to feel guilt, but that's what he was feeling. He hadn't been feeling very Decepticon-like since he was revived anyway. Something was wrong … very wrong. It had taken him half as long to recharge and repair than usual. Where had all that energon gone when he still could feel his form ache and shiver? Ugh, the human was staring with its beady, gooey, little eyes.

"Res-sting. He's re-resting," said Frenzy as he rubbed his chest slightly. There was that ache again. He would ask Barricade to look at it, but his partner had problems of his own. There was no doubt in his CPU that the pain Barricade had been suffering from this evening was because of him. The symbiotic systems were failing and were stressed. His body abusing them wasn't helping that problem any. He should rest more. He didn't need a link-up with Barricade to fall into recharge and repair. He just needed the other being for energy … he should rest. Yes, rest, that was what his body craved.

Miles watched the small being continue to rub its chest before it suddenly jumped off his bed, setting up a perimeter in Miles attic-room. He even checked under the bed for some reason. Miles wondered if he could inquire as to what the being wanted, but he was sure he wouldn't get an answer. It would be nice to know why Frenzy was now eyeing the cloths on his closet floor though.

"So … what does Barricade want me to do about … tomorrow? I managed to convince Sam that we were going to skate around town, leaving the Camaro at home. W-what kind of questions should I ask, or what should I try to look for?" questioned Miles nervously as he watched the small robot dig though his closet, clothes and shoes being thrown left and right.

Finally finding what looked like Mile's Spiderman boxers and putting it on his head, Frenzy turned around with Miles's backpack from a year or two ago. The cassette then looked at the human, "I-I will be going with y-you tomorrow. In this!"

Miles blinked at the backpack. It was ragged and patchy, having suffered pounds of hateful Algebra homework and bullies alike.

"What?" said the human, not quite getting it.

Frenzy jumped on the bed, glared at the human and said simply, "I-I'm going to be your backpack-pack driver tomorrow. P-pleasant nightmares f-fleshling."

Miles sat there a minute, finally understanding that he'd be hauling around the small mech tomorrow like one of those baby-carriers people put on their backs. He was about to inquire farther, but before he knew it, the small mech had jumped off the bed, turned off the light, crawled back into his bed, under his sheets, and then off-lined his optics. Miles sat there at the edge of the bed where he had been for most the interaction, staring at the being. He had had his bed just hi-jacked by an alien robot, hadn't he?

The human sighed, heading over to the small couch near the telescope in his room. He popped the widow, letting in the cool night air. He stared at the ceiling for a second as he readied himself for tomorrow. He wasn't really tired; there was too much excitement in his blood like a pulsing current. So, instead he merely just turned his head and stared at the metallic being as it seemed to pull itself in a ball, fans humming softly beneath the blankets. Miles wasn't sure of a many things, but staring at the being as it rested from its weary battle, he knew that he was going to see this thing through to the end.

He would not stop until Barricade and Frenzy had succeeded.

XXX

Paw07:Hmmm ... I don't know about you guys, but this chapter doesn't feel right … like its kind of choppy. I'm not sure though ... huh, well enjoy and drop me a review.


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